“The Basis for Hope in a Hurting World”

“The Basis for Hope in a Hurting World”

Hope along with faith and love forms the set of 'theological virtues' first elaborated by Paul in Corinthians 13:13. They were contrasted with the four 'cardinal virtues' of temperance, justice, prudence and fortitude. The theological virtues were the ends for which the cardinal virtues were means. Largely absent from classical Greek philosophy, hope features prominently in the New Testament as an eschatological expectation of future salvation; the importance of hope is underlined by Paul's description of God as the God of hope.

Although mythology is vague on whether hope actually escaped, the usual conclusion is that it did. Moreover, hope has been viewed as being just as evil as the forces that did escape. For example, Sophocles believed that hope only prolonged human suffering. Plato called hope a foolish counselor. Francis Bacon said that hope was a good breakfast but a bad supper. Similarly, Benjamin Franklin cautioned people with the observation, “He who lives on hope will die fasting.” Therefore, much of history has been quite negative about hope. On this latter point, therefore, it should be noted that the Judeo-Christian viewpoint has been in the minority when making hope one of its virtues (along with faith and charity).

Hope has long been thought to be the underlying common process in all successful psychotherapy approaches. Thus, it should come as no surprise that the second line of research pertains to teaching people how to increase their levels of hopeful thinking. In this regard, there have been successful attempts to enhance hope in the context of one-on-one settings, couples, and groups of people. In regard to groups, researchers have implemented an intervention for depressed older adults. In 10 group sessions, these elderly adults underwent activities based on hope theory (to lessen their depression and raise their physical activities), and the results showed significant improvements for the people in this group when compared to people who underwent a commonly used intervention. In another hope intervention, the outpatients who were visiting a community mental health center were taught the basic principles of hope theory before they entered treatment. Results showed that these outpatients improved in their later treatments, and they did so more than clients who had not been given these pretreatment preparations. In yet another study, a videotaped treatment involving hopeful narratives was given to women who had survived childhood incest. ...