ECM Biblical Reflection "Living with Hope"

Biblical Reflection, 1st day at APAY ECM, Penang YMCA

Living with Hope

(Romans 5:3-5)

Ahn Jae-Woong,

Chairman of the Korean YMCA National Federation Foundation

I am very delighted to be here in this beautiful city of Penang to share the ECM Opening Devotion with you.

This is the place where I have fond memories of delivering messages four times, including the opening ceremony, closing ceremony, and two morning devotions, at the invitation of the former General Secretary Kohei Yamada, when the 18th APAY General Assembly was held in September 2011 with the theme of “Breaking Barriers Transforming Lives.”

This year, the world is facing another turbulent period. Wars and civil wars continue in many parts of the world, and with the start of President Trump’s term in office, everyone is on high alert for the global impact of various policy changes in the United States. In short, we are witnessing a structural change from the unipolar system of the past to a multipolar system. The climate crisis, the economic gap between countries, the collapse of the multilateral cooperation system, the rise of new nationalism and Ethnocentrism, etc., mankind is facing an unprecedented overlapping crisis.

We must have a good grasp of the flow of the times. We must properly understand the trends of the era. Otherwise, we are likely to fall behind. In this creative era where people seek to pioneer their own lives, the meaning of survival literally changes depending on creative thinking and cooperation.

We live in an era where even the colors of jobs and workplaces are clearly distinguished. The working class is recognized as the blue color, and office workers are recognized as the white color. The middle color between blue and white is called gray. These are the types of people who handle machines and are responsible for operating computers. The service industry is classified as the pink color, the environment-related industry is classified as the green color, and the financial sector is classified as the diamond color. People who are active in various fields in this division are the trend these days. They are called the Rainbow color generation. The era of thinking of one job as a lifelong career is over. We see the Rainbow Generation successfully performing multiple jobs at the same time. This trend allows working from home or remotely. In terms of efficiency, it is by no means lacking. The future will be developed by capable people with increasingly diverse talents.

A challenging future is approaching, but there is no need for despair. Soren Kierkegaard, the author of “The Sickness Unto Death,” defined “despair as the sickness unto death.” We must find a way to live with hope, beyond despair. We see crowds rushing toward an uncertain future without a plan. I am afraid that the rapid development of all kinds of technology will be either a blessing or a disaster for the humanity’s future.

“Theology of the Death of God,” which caused a stir in the theological world in the 1960s, also sparked a huge controversy. Thomas Altizer argued that “we must recognize that the death of God is a historical event. God died in our time, in our history, in our existence.” This was a declaration that humans do not need to have any expectations of God. He took a radical theological stance, asserting that the transcendent God is dead, and only the immanent human Jesus remains. Additionally, his co-authored book, Radical Theology and the Death of God, written with William Hamilton, also caused a significant uproar, but it gradually faded away.

The “theology of the death of God” was revived in a new form called “Theology of Hope” by Jurgen Moltmann. Moltmann took a reserved stance on the issue of God rather than drawing any conclusions. This is because he believed that history is not yet complete, and therefore God may be alive in the future. The theology of hope does not extinguish the candle of hope for God’s existence, but rather keeps it alive. The theme of the theology of hope can be summarized as the future and hope. Unlike existential theology, which emphasizes the present, the theology of hope is characterized by emphasizing the future. This is because the past and present have meaning and value only when related to the future. Therefore, the theology of hope is sometimes called “theology of the future.”

Moltmann was drafted into the army during World War II and was taken prisoner for three years from 1945, spending time in prison camps in Belgium and England. He began to read the New Testament and the Psalms given to him by an American military chaplain. While struggling with the question of theodicy, “Where is God?” amid the horrific suffering of war, he personally experienced that those who held onto hope had a higher chance of survival. Moltmann began to study theology because of his interest in theodicy and the question of hope during his time as a prisoner. He was revered as a world-renowned theologian of his time. His major works include the trilogy “Theology of Hope (1964),” “The Crucified God (1972),” and “The Church in the Power of the Spirit (1975).”

“Theology of Hope” presented a new understanding of eschatology. He emphasized that hope is the driving force and foundation that drives of everything. He considered eschatology to be the central theme of theology and studied the entire theology from an eschatological perspective. The two concepts that form the heart of the theology of hope are ‘hope and promise.’ In the theology of hope, hope and promise are like two sides of a coin. His experience in the concentration camp gave him an opportunity to witness the vitality of hope. He observed that those who had hope survived, while those who gave up got sick and died. He realized that hope was the dividing line between life and death.

Theology of Hope is the result of applying his theology to Ernest Bloch’s Philosophy of Hope, which asserts that “all problems can be answered in the future and by the future.” Bloch recognized hope as a ‘dream of a better life.’ That is true. Hope speaks of the ontology of ‘being that is not yet.’ As long as humans are alive, they cannot help but yearn for something. Hope is also an inevitable characteristic of human existence. Bloch’s philosophical essay ends with the following: “The root of history is man, who labors, creates, changes his environment without transcending it. If man understands himself and proves himself without alienation in true democracy, something that all people in the world have longed for in their childhood and that no one has yet realized will emerge. That is none other than ‘homeland.’” He described the utopian state in which man and the world are happily united in an ideal state as ‘homeland,’ and only when we reach that homeland does the ‘true Genesis’ begin’.

Moltmann believed that the task of the church should be to reform social structures rather than simply convert individuals, and that theology should not simply interpret the world as it is, but change this world. He emphasized that the task of theology is to create a world where people can live as humans and where everything is done according to God’s will. He argued that the fulfillment of hope is fundamentally accomplished by God’s power, but that humans cannot simply passively wait for the coming of the future. This is because he believed that the fulfillment of hope depends significantly on human effort. The “theology of hope” is therefore “action theology.” Instead of asking why God does not do something about the evil in the world, it takes action to change that evil. The church he envisions maintains a firm stance that it must strive for freedom, peace, and justice in the current history and, if necessary, reform the society to gain some political power. This is one aspect of the ecclesiology seen in the theology of hope.

Today’s bible passage says this: “… We know that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Therefore, we must endure suffering and live boldly with hope in 2025. May the Lord’s great love and guidance always be with us. Amen.