Today’s postsecondary students struggle with increasing depression and anxiety, in part influenced by the troubling state of the world. Our students desperately need hope; yet, too often, their university classes diminish rather than increase hope. A key role of the Christian educator is to teach students to live in biblical hope, rooted in the transformational work of God in human history. Drawing on the work of diverse scholars and educators, this article lays out a theological framework for hope and uses it to outline orientations and practices for the classroom that equip students to live faithfully into that hope.
Angus Reid Institute (2018) Dueling Realities? Age, Political Ideology Divide Canadians Over Cause & Threat of Climate Change. Available at: http://angusreid.org/climate-change-beliefs/ (accessed 19 October 2021).
BauckhamRHartT (1999) Hope Against Hope: Christian Eschatology at the Turn of the Millennium.
Grand Rapids, MI:
Eerdmans.
6.
BoesakAA (2014) Dare We Speak of Hope?Searching for a Language of Life in Faith and Politics.
Grand Rapids, MI:
Eerdmans.
7.
BotmanHR (2001) Hope as the coming reign of God. In: BrueggemannW (ed.) Hope for the World: Mission in a Global Context.
Louisville, KY:
Westminster John Knox Press, pp. 69–81.
8.
BrueggemannW (1999)
The liturgy of abundance, the myth of scarcity. Christian Century116(10): 342–347.
9.
FreireP (1970) Pedagogy of the Oppressed.
New York, NY:
Continuum.
10.
GoudzwaardBVander VennenMVan HeemstD (2007) Hope in Troubled Times: A New Vision for Confronting Global Crises.
Grand Rapids, MI:
Baker Academic.
11.
JacobsD (2005)
What’s hope got to do with it? Theorizing hope in education. JAC: A Journal of Composition Theory25(4): 783–802.
12.
LowryJ (2001) The Bible as scripted hope. In: BrueggemannW (ed.) Hope for the World: Mission in a Global Context.
Louisville, KY:
Westminster John Knox Press, pp. 95–106.
13.
MacyJBrownMY (2014) Coming Back to Life: The Updated Guide to the Work that Reconnects.
Gabriola Island, BC:
New Society Publishers.
14.
MacyJJohnstoneC (2012) Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We’re in Without Going Crazy.
Novato, CA:
New World Library.
15.
MarcelG (1951) Homo Viator: Introduction to a Metaphysic of Hope.
Chicago, IL:
Henry Regnery Company.
16.
McEwanRMHermanWRHimesBM (2016)
Cultivating hope through learning for the common good. Christian Higher Education15(5): 307–319.
17.
MoyerJMSinclairAJQuinnL (2016)
Transitioning to a more sustainable society: unpacking the role of the learning-action nexus. International Journal of Lifelong Education35(3): 313–329.
18.
PalmerPJ (2011) Healing the Heart of Democracy: The Courage to Create a Politics Worthy of the Human Spirit.
San Francisco, CA:
Joosey-Bass.
WitvlietCVRichieFJLunaLMR, et al. (2019)
Gratitude predicts hope and happiness: a two-study assessment of traits and states. The Journal of Positive Psychology14(3): 271–282.
