Hope in Community: Recovering the Most Elusive Social Virtue in American Church Practice

Do American Christians have hope in community, within their congregations and in the wider society, and should they? Putting my fieldwork in five church communities in dialogue with Thomas Aquinas’s account of hope and with insights from congregational studies, I answer yes to both questions. Christ...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Stiltner, Brian 1966- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Philosophy Documentation Center 2024
In: Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics
Year: 2024, Volume: 44, Issue: 1, Pages: 65-84
IxTheo Classification:CH Christianity and Society
KAJ Church history 1914-; recent history
KBQ North America
NCC Social ethics
RB Church office; congregation
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Summary:Do American Christians have hope in community, within their congregations and in the wider society, and should they? Putting my fieldwork in five church communities in dialogue with Thomas Aquinas’s account of hope and with insights from congregational studies, I answer yes to both questions. Christian hope is best understood and lived not simply as a theological virtue but as a social virtue. In this understanding, connections forged with others, both inside and outside a church, can develop a community’s realistic, forward-looking trust in social relationships and in the fate of society. I suggest four guidelines for church practices to build up social hope and make it more effectual.
ISSN:2326-2176
Contains:Enthalten in: Society of Christian Ethics, Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.5840/jsce202431999