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...
Main Author: | |
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
Philosophy Documentation Center
2024
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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 |
Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
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. |
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ISSN: | 2326-2176 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Society of Christian Ethics, Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.5840/jsce202431999 |