Keeping Hope Alive

Even at a glance, it is obvious that this text has taken years of research on the part of the author. While some of the content matter stretches the mind, the style is interesting and easy to read. This is ideal not only for the serious student of theology but also for those who simply want to inform themselves about the latest stirrings in Christian thinking on life, death and hope.Primarily the book is about eschatology and reclaiming our understanding of this as a way of being in the world. The novice reader of theology would not be blamed for thinking that eschatology is about death and judgement, heaven and hell and end things, for this was a common pre-supposition for many centuries. No doubt such thinking was one of the reasons for the demise of any serious research in eschatology for a long time. However, Lane not only has shown the significance and meaning of eschatological understanding for Christianity today, but he has also offered an innovative perspective on a discipline integral to Christian faith and practice.The book^Òs greatest asset is its strong emphasis on hope within the context of Christianity. Hope, in a world of darkness, is what the book is all about. Lane^Òs hope is not a superficial one. Rather, it is a hope which emanates from human experience and the human understanding of life in its totality, finality but ultimate infinity. In this respect, Lane sets about reclaiming eschatology by explaining its relationship to the Church in the world, the Eucharist, social justice, faith and ecology. Thus, eschatology like Christianity itself is rooted in the world giving lie to the Marxist theory that religion is the opium of the people keeping them from their political and social responsibilities to the world. 1Lane has also shown how eschatology can be used as a vehicle to alleviate other misconceptions about theology. For example, the classical understanding of the dualism of the body and soul, the spirit and matter, heaven and earth are now explained anew within the context of what it means to be a human being. Lane encourages us to not to be so preoccupied with our own individual lives and souls but to see our individual destinies as bound up with the rest of humanity. 2 Yet, this is not to suggest that understanding of the self in relation to God and humanity is sacrificed in any way. For, he says, it is only when the self has evolved and emerges out of a configuration of other relationships does the self embrace a deepened awareness of the transcendent, divine dimension within the world. 3It is from here, within the all embracing scope of eschatology, that humankind can move in search of hope. Particularly noteworthy are the dimensions of Christian hope of which the author writes. Interestingly, Lane refers to Christian hope as having a "peculiar character". Every Christian has heard of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Perhaps it is precisely because every Christi