Though the Fig Tree Does Not Blossom: Toward a Responsible Theology of Christian Hope

by Ellen Ott Marshall

Charts a course through the equally inadequate options of despair and optimism to a responsible understanding and practice of Christian hope. Christian theology and ethics have long fought a battle with two defective views of human life. On the one hand despair has seen the world as irreclaimably flawed and incapable of redemption. On the other optimism has ignored life’s tragic dimension and negated its need of redemption. To these false alternatives Ellen Ott Marshall offers the possibility of authentic Christian hope. Drawing on sources from Aristotle to Picasso, Marshall argues for a Christian way of life that recognizes the persistent reality of tragedy and evil, yet refuses to give these the final word. A responsible theology and practice of hope sees the world for the mess that it really is, yet with the prophet still commits to pursuing the vision of peace, wholeness, and the reign of God. Ellen Ott Marshall is Associate Professor of Ethics at Claremont School of Theology in Claremont, CA.

To read the Introduction, click here .

176 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2006

Reviews

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a required read for one of my MDiv classes, so I did go through it fairly quickly. Marshall works to adapt a strategy and theology of hope that is both responsible and sustainable for communities and individuals. The greatest emphasis is that hope comes along with suffering and they cannot be each separated from each other for suffering without hope is despair and hope without suffering is a daydream. The importance is remaining somewhere within the two that is also a place of action (and perhaps can include changing the object of that hope).