"It's a powerful religious idea that he's sort of tied into," said Dominic Doyle, a professor of systematic theology at Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge Mass."In hope, you approach God as merciful. . . . There's something about hope that resonates really closely with being present with people in their difficulties."David Myers, a psychology professor at Hope College in Michigan, says the hope Obama speaks about is what "Christianity is all about," a call to wholehearted, spiritual change. "One thinks again of Martin Luther King Jr. -- only through spiritual transformation, he said, 'do we gain the strength to fight vigorously the evils of the world in a humble and loving spirit,' " Myers said. Of course, inviting people to that kind of hope can be politically treacherous because it invariably invites a cynical response that says hope is nice and all, but what are your plans? "While [planning] is an important issue, that isn't what talk of hope fundamentally does," Jennings said. "What talk of hope fundamentally does is invite people to look up and look well beyond their current circumstances, beyond what seems to be possible or plausible, and to imagine that there is a power in the universe that is working to make something new possible." No matter how you parse it, that is a leap of faith. And the Bible says, as Obama well knows, faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not yet seen.
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Link to the full (here) Sun Times article.
Link to the full (here) Sun Times article.
Definition of Suspension of Disbelief
3 comments:
Don't systematic theologians teach the distinction between supernatural virtues and merely natural ones anymore?
Distinctive Christian hope is directed at God revealed by Jesus Christ who promises to forgive our sins if we repent. The oposite of hope opposite is despair; and its caricature is PRESUMPTION. God is merciful, but not a patsy.
"And the Bible says, as Obama well knows,..."
Knowing what the Bible says and living it as properly interpreted in the Catholic Church are two different things. There is a certain fallen angel who knows Scripture really well too. He has many mindless followers and likes to pass himself off as some kind of messiah. Oh, and he also is 100% pro-abortion. [Any similarities are purely coincidental, of course.]
This is the kind of theological torture good young Jesuits must endure.
Actually...if you read the article, the professor from Weston is not supporting Obama...merely pointing out that the idea of hope has some theological implications. Hardly the same as campaigning for a candidate.
And, if you did your homework, you would know that the Weston professor quoted in the article is not an American citizen. He's British.
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