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[Reviewed in THE FUTURIST, May-June 2005]
The Future of Hope, edited by Miroslav Volf and William Katerberg. Eerdmans Publishing Co., www.eerdmans.com. 2004. 249 pages. Paperback. $20. Available from the Futurist Bookshelf, www.wfs.org/bkshelf.htm.
Hope for the Future
By Lane Jennings
Hope's future is none too bright, at least here on Earth, according to theological scholars contributing to The Future of Hope.
Hope for better times ahead has always been what keeps humanity going. But lately people in the West have been feeling less happy than previous generations did, even though almost every aspect of daily life has improved vastly and is still improving measurably.
Is it simply because of fear of terrorism or economic collapse? Or possibly because we're envious of other people's success and so simply need to become less obsessed with material possessions, as some critics have suggested? Maybe so. But The Future of Hope, a collection of scholarly essays by contemporary Christian theologians and edited by divinity professors Miroslav Volf (Yale) and William Katerberg (Calvin College), finds little for humans to be glad about and still less to look forward to—at least in this existence.
German theologian Jürgen Moltmann's essay "Progress and the Abyss" sets the gloomy tone. He depicts the twentieth century as a total loss—a time when all credible evidence of progress toward a better world achieved by human will through science and Western ideals of social improvement was undercut and wiped away by world wars, state-sponsored genocide, and ecological destruction on a global scale.
"It would be cynical," Moltmann insists, "to go on talking today about the moral progress of humanity through civilization."
The only "hope" Moltmann sees lies in divine intervention. "No human future can make good the crimes of the past," he insists. Therefore, the task facing all of humanity—and specifically all devout Christians—is to prepare for the end of history, when God, not fallible human beings, will bring the world to perfection. This approach requires "cautious hopes, and hopes that count the costs."
Moltmann counsels Christians to join with concerned world citizens of every faith and background to work tirelessly to promote and extend human rights, keep the threat of nuclear annihilation at bay, and protect the environment. He looks forward to a time when international tribunals not only prosecute "crimes against humanity" but also crimes against the environment.
Such efforts are important and necessary but insufficient. No future can be called hopeful, in Moltmann's view, unless it includes fair treatment not only for those living today and their descendants, but also for those who have already suffered and died. This can only mean a future that includes the resurrection of the dead, for only this event can bring about true healing and reward every human existence with its due significance.
Moltmann's perspective here raises several questions often ignored by writers on futures topics whose approach is wholly secular: Are there any limits to what human beings can achieve? What responsibilities, if any, do those living today have toward past generations, and should these concerns limit or in some way shape our legacy to future generations?
Other contributors to this volume supplement and expand the overall conclusions expressed in Moltmann's essay. Sociologist Daniel Johnson, for example, deals with the dilemma facing evangelical Christians who struggle to promote standards of personal behavior and belief that seem increasingly at odds with what they perceive to be a cultural decline in American values.
John Milbank of the University of Virginia argues that the Christian church in a postmodern world must actively support secular reformers to combat the negative impacts of globalization and "the new American empire." But the church must also support the idea that maximizing human liberty is not an end-goal in itself, and that some power greater than human will and desire must be recognized and respected if nature and society are to coexist in lasting harmony.
Theologians and students of comparative religion may find interesting ideas in all these essays, but Moltmann's arguments are especially articulate and comprehensive. He makes a strong case against unbridled optimism and for the proposition that human aspirations even when achieved are never likely to attain perfection. Particularly striking is his emphasis on imagining a future for the past—a future that will require divine intervention.
It is worth considering how often one group or generation's assessment of its own best interests has led to crimes and excesses that the group's descendants have been left to deal with. Merely remembering those now dead without continuing to hope for their eventual restoration and triumph can easily lead to merely wallowing in nostalgia for lost glories or obsessing over old wrongs that are then avenged by new crimes and injustices toward individuals alive today.
If physical resurrection—bringing the dead back to life—is too much to logically hope for, I believe there is still much to be said for accepting this impossibility as a tangible instance of the limits to human achievement. We may improve upon the present in many ways, but we cannot make up for certain kinds of damage done to nature and to human beings in the past. We may help prepare the way for heaven on earth—but we cannot hope to realize it in practice. Unless, of course, we get some outside help from a power greater than ourselves.
About the Reviewer
Lane Jennings is research director of THE FUTURIST and production editor
of Future Survey. His article "Finding Better Ways to Die" appeared in the
March-April 2005 issue of THE FUTURIST.