During a recent webinar sponsored by the Jerusalem-based interfaith organization, The Rossing Center, guest Miroslav Volf, theology professor at Yale Divinity School, spoke of the role of memory in pursuit of peace. The ethical imperative he named is to remember rightly, by which he means not just to remember personal or collective experiences as facts but to remember them pragmatically. That is, with a view toward how they can heal rather than hurt.
He concluded by answering a question about where he finds hope today in the midst of so much polarization and conflict. He distinguished between hope and optimism, drawing upon his recently deceased teacher and mentor, Jürgen Moltmann (whose work also inspired me). Optimism, Moltmann said, is an extrapolation of present circumstances. Whatever comes in the future is already latent in the present and one can only feel optimistic or pessimistic about the future based on current realities.
Hope, on the other hand, is derived from the arrival of something new that breaks into our current existence. Like the promise of God to Abraham and Sarah, this newness calls forth a kind of commitment to a path previously unthinkable. And it creates new conditions for hope that can be and must be lived.
These are days in our faith communities and beyond when we fear that every moment is existential—a teetering on the knife-edge between life and death. How we preach and teach, speak and write, pray and act during these times is a test of faith. Will we draw upon memories of our spiritual traditions that point toward hopeful futures and ignite our imaginations beyond current anxieties or will we fall into collective despair that immobilizes us?
Remembering rightly is a hopeful practice and the practice of hope.
~ George A. Mason
31 July 2024
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