This book describes the importance of hope as a component and extension of faith. Faith without hope is an ideology. Hope without faith is wishful thinking. This study examines the relationship of hope to history, to suffering, to death, to action in the world, and to our eschatological future. The text grounds Christian spirituality in the central event of Christianity, the resurrection of Jesus, and examines how belief in the resurrection shatters our assumptions about who God is, who we are, and what our destiny will be. Guided reflection on the personal experience of readers is central to the process of study.
The Meaning of Hope consists of six sessions; each session is designed to fit a one-and-a-half to two-hour time frame. A suggested time schedule appears in the front of the book. Session titles are as follows: Where Hope Begins; Hope against Hope; Hope in Suffering; Hope and Death; Hope and History; and Hope and the Future.
Prayer begins and concludes each of the six sessions. The sessions also include periods of reflective input, conversation time to respond to questions that shed light on the adult faith journey, silent reflection and journaling, and an invitation to action which encourages the conversion that true growth in faith requires. Time for socialization is also built in to the sessions.
