This paper will discuss the principles of understanding and interpreting the concept of Christian "hope." Hope is the triumph of the love of God over all hate, of the justice of God over all injustice, of God's freedom over all bondage of community with God, over all separation of life. But Christian hope is not limited to the fulfillment of individual love only but to communal fulfillment too. As individuals we know that our lives are intimately entangled with those of friends and neighbors near and far. When by grace we rise above our egocentricity, we realize that there can be no salvation for us as persons apart from the transformation of the communities and institutions to which we belong: family, society, humanity as a whole. .
Christian hope also has a cosmic dimension. It encompasses the entire creation. The fulfillment for which we yearn cannot be found apart from the renewal and transformation of the heaven and the earth to which we are bound in life and in death. As essential hermeneutical principles for interpreting Christian hope, I will consider the following proposals: The language of Christian hope is language stretched to the limits, language rich in symbol and image. We should not pretend to have precise and detailed information about the future. "The symbolic language of hope is to be taken seriously but not literalistically. When we speak of life beyond death, or of a resurrected body, or of a new heaven and a new earth, we speak in images, metaphors and parables" (Calvin). We must have the humility to recognize with Luther that "as little as children know in their mother's womb about their birth, so little do we know about life everlasting"" (Schwarz, 1984).
Hope in the Resurrection of the Crucified Jesus.
Christian hope is grounded in the resurrection of the crucified Jesus, sustained by the presence and promise of the life-giving Holy Spirit, and oriented to the glory of the triune God.
