Practical Theology and Hope
In Christian theology, the study of hope has favored concepts over practice, theory over praxis.[1] Practical theology exists to build bridges between doctrine and action. Practical theologies of hope move in many directions. When hope is the remedy, despair is the diagnosis. Many start with problem and move to solution. Emil Brunner argued that “hope is in fact the essential problem of our time. A church which has no clear and definite message to give on this point has nothing to say at all.”[2]
Walter Brueggemann suggests that missiology must work from this premise: “the world church, in all its parts, faces a new context for ministry… marked by despair…the rubric of despair-hope is pertinent to new questions now facing the church.”[3] Since despair is context specific, “hope, if it is grounded in the gospel, must be concrete, embodied, and context specific.”[4] A practical theology of hope is rooted in reality, it must affirm the “dialectic of hope and hopelessness…[which is] a dialectic of the cross and resurrection.”[5] This reality calls for humility in practice, along with an “ecclesial sense of vulnerability, formed by the truth of the cross as an ecclesial marking.”[6]
In the North American context, productivity has the potential of masking despair. Brueggemann suggests that productivity is America’s “dominant ideological system…valuing only those who participate in the production and consumption achievements of commodity consumerism, which is governed by the triad of money, power and sex.”[7] Hope combats this by relishing “non-productivity and the non-productive,” forming and nurturing “face to face community” and practicing “limit in every aspect of life.”[8]
Hope is a community project, according to certain practical theologians.[9] For some, enacted hope is found in receiving God’s forgiveness and extending it to others.[10] Others suggest the concrete practice of the Lord’s Supper as tangible experience of hope.[11] Missional engagement is one potential answer. Preaching the gospel of hope, is itself an act of hope.[12]
Psychology looks primarily at the “experience of hope.”[13] Many practical theologians integrate psychological insights into their theologies.[14] For example, research demonstrates that Trinitarian hope is linked to “greater health, well-being, religious attachment, relational investment and social good.”[15] There are volumes written on the impact of hopelessness on human well-being.[16] Hope has been identified as a “human strength” that enables “optimal human functioning” and contributes significantly to “positive mental health.”[17]
Kay Herth has developed a psychological model for building hope and countering hopelessness in terminally ill patients. Her framework consists of seven hope-fostering categories: 1) Interpersonal connectedness; 2) spiritual base; 3) attainable aims; 4) affirmation of worth; 5) lightheartedness; 6) personal attributes; 7) uplifting memories. She includes three hope-hindering categories to her paradigm: a) abandonment; b) uncontrollable pain and discomfort; c) devaluation of personhood.[18]
Andrew Lester argues that hope and despair are theological and psychological dynamics requiring attention to both disciplines. He suggests that pastoring hope is built around the concepts of temporality, narrative theory and a phenomenological assessment of human brokenness.[19] For Lester, one’s identity is tied to their story. Hope allows the narrative of the future to frame the experience of the present.
Christianity “has been paramount in emphasizing the primacy of hope in human existence…ever since its origins Christianity as a movement has forced theological and philosophical thinkers to become explicit about hope, to inculcate hope, to assume hope, to extol hope, to help people towards hope.”[20] Hope is therefore central to the task of the vocational minister, “it is the basic and fundamental role of clergy to be… agents of hope.”[21] The vocation of hope is driven by the reality of hope.[22]
Practical theology engages the question of hope from the trenches. It asks the question, “how can hope find its way into this specific situation or this particular person?” It works from the assumption of despair, combats the ideological roots of hopelessness, operates within a dialectic of hope and hopelessness, prescribes practices of community, ritual and mission. It is multi-disciplinary, leaning on insights from other fields to understand hope in the human experience. It strives for concrete application, encouraging self-inventory, skill-building, goal-setting and relational development.
[1]Sheldon Louthan, “Practice of hope,” Journal of Psychology & Theology 2:4 (1974): 276-283. Louthan recalls Jurgen Moltmann identified the hole in his influential work. “I must perhaps admit that in The Theology of Hope I left my readers in the lurch as regards the practice of hope. Having read the book, many believed that they now knew what they wanted, but they did not clearly see what next step they should take.”
[2]Brunner, Eternal Hope, 211.
[3]Campbell Seminar and Walter Brueggemann, Hope for the World: Mission in a Global Context : Papers from the Campbell Seminar (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001), 7, 12. William Hordern, “The Theology of Hope in America,” Lutheran Quarterly 21:4 (1969): 343. “Eric Fromm’s, The Revolution of Hope, argues that there is psychoanalytic evidence for saying that America is suffering from an unconscious despair. On the surface men seem to be happy, content and looking forward to the future. But looked at more closely, we see that despair is just under the surface.”
[4]Ibid, 12.
[5]Simon S. M. Kwan, “Interrogating ‘Hope,’ Pastoral Theology of Hope and Positive Psychology,” International Journal of Practical Theology 14:1 (2010): 64.
[6]Campbell Seminar. Hope for the World, 7.
[7]Campbell Seminar. Hope for the World, 55.
[8]Ibid.
[9]Barbara K. Sain, “One body, one Spirit, one hope: theological resources for those who struggle to hope,” Pro Ecclesia 24:2 (2015): 211. Hope is “deeply rooted in, and emerging from, interpersonal relations. Hope is grounded in foe experience of communion. Because hope is inherently relational, trust and love play important roles in its development and stability.”
[10]Paul B. Wolfe, “Hope enacted: forgiveness as ethical foundation in the New Testament,” Southwestern Journal of Theology 45:3 (2003): 18-29.
[11]Edward P. Wimberly, “Mirrors of Hope: Eucharist and Pastoral Care as Hope for Life-long Ministry,” Journal of Pastoral Theology 26:2 (2016), 121-126.
[12]Henry Pietersma, “The place of hope in the Christian life,” Reformed Journal 18:8 (1968), 19-21.
[13]Capps, “The Pastor as Agent of Hope,” 325-335.
[14]Donald Capps, “The Letting Loose of Hope: Where Psychology of Religion and Pastoral Care Converge,” The Journal of Pastoral Care 51:2 (1997): 139-149.
[15]Melissa Houser, “Hope, religious behaviors, and attachment of God: a Trinitarian perspective,” Journal of Psychology & Theology 41:4 (2013): 281-297.
[16]Gerald J. Haeffel, Lyn Y. Abramson, Paige C. Brazy, and James Y. Shah, “Hopelessness Theory and the Approach System: Cognitive Vulnerability Predicts Decreases in Goal-Directed Behavior,” Cogn Ther Res 32 (2008): 281-290. L. Y. Abramson, L. B. Alloy, M. E. Hogan, W.G. Whitehouse, B.E. Gibb, B,L, Hankin & M.M. Cornette, “The Hopelessness Theory of Suicidality,” in Suicide Science: Expanding the boundaries ed. T. E. Joiner & M. D. Rudd (New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, 2000), 17-32.
[17]P Halama & M. Dědová, “Meaning in life and hope as predictors of positive mental health: Do they explain residual variance not predicted by personality traits?,” Studia Psychologica, 49:3 (2007): 199. Michael F. Valle, E. Scott Huebner & Shannon M. Suldo, “An analysis of hope as a psychological strength,” Journal of School Psychology 44 (2006): 393–406.
[18]J. Buckley and K. Herth, “Fostering Hope in Terminally Ill Patients.” Nursing Standard 19:10(2004), 33-41.
[19]Andrew D. Lester, Hope in Pastoral Care and Counseling (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1995).
[20]Jen Pollock Michel & A.J. Swoboda, “God is a Homemaker: How that truth gives hope to a broken, inhospitable world,” Christianity Today 61:4 (2017): 62-63.
[21]George M. Furniss, “Spirituality and hope in pastoral care,” Journal of Pastoral Theology 23:2 (2013), 4-1.
[22]Rachelle R. Weiman, “The power of hope,” Journal of Ecumenical Studies 43:2 (2008): 87-96.Sandra F. Selby, “Hope in the wilderness: addressing compassion fatigue in professionals who work with individuals in crisis,” Journal of Religious Leadership 13:2 (2014): 87. “The most devastating impact of vicarious trauma is in the realms of hope and meaning, specifically in cynicism and pessimism.” Eric Ortlund, “Laboring in hopeless hope: encouragement for Christians from Ecclesiastes,” Themelios 39:2 (2014): 287.Ortlund argues that hope must be wise “Do not set your hopes on leaving a permanent mark on the world (or your denomination) through your work, or you will burn out. Only God knows the end result of ‘your work, not you…In order to be prepared to hope in what does not deceive, we must first lose hope in everything that deceives.”
