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The Ground and Content of Christian Hope by Brian Marshall, B.Sc., Edinburgh, B.D. (Hons.), Aberdeen Thesis Submitted to The

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The Ground and Content of Christian Hope by Brian Marshall, B.Sc., Edinburgh, B.D. (Hons.), Aberdeen Thesis Submitted to The The Ground and Content of Christian Hope by Brian Marshall, B.Sc., Edinburgh, B.D. (Hons.), Aberdeen Thesis submitted to the University of Nottingham for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, October, 1986 312880 Contents Abstract A Note of Thanks By Way of Explanation and Introduction 1 Chapter One Crucifixions The Raw Material of Christian Hope 9 Introduction 9 i The historical foundations 11 (a) The historical causes of Jesus' death 11 (b) Jesus' approach to his own death 14 (c) The agency of Jesus and the agency of God 18 ii Salvation as the ground of hope: fundamental features of the theology of atonement 21 (a) Jesus' death as the work of creative love 22 (b) Judgement, identification and transformation 24 (c) Vicariousness and substitution? 27 iii The unfinished work of Jesus 32 (a) Grace, the Holy Spirit and the practice of the church 32 (b) The capacity of the story of Jesus to transform human existence 36 iv Moltmann's 'crucified God's suffering as the test case of hope 40 (a) The task of faith and theology in the light of suffering 41 (b) His reception of the doctrine of the Trinity 42 (c) Dereliction as a trinitarian event 45 v A critical reconstruction 49 (a) The suffering of God must take place in our history where it is needed 50 (b) The victory of God's love as the basis of hope must not be obscured by the use of the themes of contradiction and breakdown 54 (c) The totality of the suffering of God from the perspective of the suffering of the Spirit 57 (d) We can try to say too much and too little about the suffering of God 61 (e) Suffering is not only a problem for human beings 66 vi The redemption of suffering 67 (a) Divine impassibility reconsidered 67 (b) Suffering and hope 70 Conclusions 74 Chapter Two Death and Resurrection in the Perspective of Jesus' Resurrection 77 Introduction 77 i Jesus' resurrection as the ground of Christian faith 78 (a) Resurrection as the mysterious initiative of God 78 (b) Resurrection as an historical event 82 (c) Different possible correlates of the Easter faith, the empty tomb as a test case 87 ii The problem and significance of death 91 (a) Towards a positive evaluation of death 92 (b) The unfinished business of death 97 iii God, death and resurrection 99 (a) Love, creation and resurrection 100 (b) The work of Father, Son artdSpirit 103 (c) The theology of Holy Saturday 108 (d) The meaning and significance of the resurrection of Jesus 116 iv Life after death 121 (a) The difficulties, suspicions and possibilities of speaking about life after death 122 (b) The anthropological options 127 (c) The vision of true community 132 (d) The hope for creation 140 Conclusions 147 Chapter Three The Hope that All Shall be Saved 150 Introduction 150 i The New Testament and universalism 153 (a) The teachings of Jesus 153 (b) Wider scriptural evidence 155 (c) Scripture and theology 156 ii Common objections to universalism 161 (a) Scripture and tradition 161 (b) The urgency of the gospel 161 (c) The importance of human freedom 163 (d) A sentimental gospel? 165 (e) Barth and universalism 165 iii The Christian doctrine of God as the basis of the hope that all shall be saved 171 (a) The logic of death and resurrection 172 (b) Analogies for God's love 173 (c) The descent into hell 177 (d) 'All shall be well' 178 iv Objections to the doctrine of hell 179 (a) A growing catalogue of concerns 179 (b) Love and judgement 182 (c) The problem of ontological dualism 185 v Purgatory as the gift of God's unlimited grace 189 (a) The importance and possibilities of the concept 189 (b) The victory of grace 191 Conclusions 193 Chapter Four The Practice of Christian Hope: the Necessity and Shape of Christian Involvement in Society 195 Introduction 195 i Doctrines which drive one to politics 197 (a) The crucifixion of Jesus 198 (b) The Christian doctrine of God 200 (c) The theological notion of the human person 204 (d) Sacramentalism and realism 207 (e) Christian eschatology 208 ii The relation between theology and politics 210 (a) Political theology and a theology of politics 210 (b) Middle axioms 215 (c) The shape of the society which Christian hope leads us to work for 223 (d) Trinitarian politics? 232 iii The cross as the model for the actions of Christian hope 238 (a) Power, violence and the cross 238 (b) Atonement, forgiveness and politics 251 Conclusions 253 Closing Thoughts 256 Bibliography 261 ABSTRACT OF THESIS 'The Ground and Content of Christian Hope' This thesis is an attempt to develop a constructive systematic argument about Christian hope. The first chapter examines the historical ground of Christian hope in Jesus' death and resurrection, the central instance and paradigm of God's saving action. Precisely because it is hope in God who raised Jesus from the dead, Christian hope can face fully those features of life which deny hope and still believe rationally that God's purposes of life and love will triumph. This is shown by discussing hope in terms of atonement and suffering. In chapter two we explore further the historical and theological ground of hope by pressing the importance of understanding Jesus' resurrection as an historical event, and by discussing the trinitarian theology of death and resurrection. We suggest that the theology of Holy Saturday is particularly important since it is an attempt to take seriously Jesus' death as an event within the very life of God. Death itself is an important subject for Christian theology. Christian hope must help people to find positive significance in their mortality as well as trusting in life after death. Moreover, the theological signifi- cance of Jesus' resurrection extends far beyond its implications for human destiny since it invites a re-thinking of God, human being and the world. In particular, it paints us to Jesus as God's way of saving the world, and shows the importance of self-sacrifice if hope is to be kept alive. The complex of crucifixion-resurrection is the ground, logic and pattern for the actions of Christian hope. Nevertheless the hope for life after death is essential to Christian hope since it is the hope. for the final fulfil- ment of God's purposes not only for us but for all creation. This shows that eschatology should not be fanciful speculation but rather cautious projection from our present experience of God. We sketch out a possible Christian eschatology in terms of the importance of the body, the social nature of personal life, and the abiding place of creation itself. In chapter three we examine the pressure of the logic of the Christian doctrine of God - ie of the triumph of his grace in crucifixion and resurrection - towards universalism, and find this compelling despite the familiar objections. If all men and women are to love God freely we must think of personal growth towards perfection beyond death. Finally, in chapter four, we turn to the practice of hope in seeking a better human future. We argue that this makes politics an important and unavoidable concern for Christians, and we show why Christian belief requires us to take politics seriously, despite the claims often made, both inside and outside the church, to the contrary. Some indication is given of how the complex relation between faith and politics can be respected, and we make specific proposals for the kind of changes which Christian hope should cause us to work for in contemporary Bri~ain. Thus it may be seen that Christian hope embraces the whole of life in the conviction that all things work together for good under God's love. A Note of Thanks In a project which has lasted some five years a great many people ought to be thanked for helping in all sorts of ways. Inevitably I can express my debt to only a few in this note. With particular gratitude I wish to thank: Dr Richard W A McKinney, now of Trinity College, Melbourne, the main supervisor of this thesis for the first three years, for his understanding of and enthusiasm for the task, his help in arranging a period of work in Tuebingen, and the hospitality afforded on several very happy occasions by his family Professor John Heywood Thomas, for his painstaking and careful attention to the argument, enabling it to emerge with much greater clarity and coherence, yet never imposing his own ideas upon the author, and for his warmth and humanity which have made our many discussions always a pleasure Dr Haddon Willmer, a former colleague in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies of the University of Leeds, for reading and commenting upon the entirety of the last chapter, and for stimulating thought about Christianity and politics in many conversations Dr Richard Roberts, of the Department of Theology of the University of Durham, for his perceptive criticisms of the first half of chapter one, which have helped to uncover the basic logic of the argument more fully Professor Juergen Moltmann, of the University of Tuebingen in West Germany, for a most friendly welcome and for giving me a generous amount of his time to discuss with him various aspects of his thought during my visit in the summer semester of 1983, this despite the fact that it was a very busy time for him The "staff of the Arts Library of the University of Nottingham for their unfailing helpfulness and cheerfulness Mrs Ingrid Lawrie, another colleague in Leeds, who has word-processed the thesis with the competence, care and generosity of spirit which is typical of all her work.
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