Journal for Christian reflections in the context of social sciences and humanities

Caritas et veritas 2020, 10(1):176-183 | DOI: 10.32725/cetv.2020.016

Overcoming Despair: Open Soul, Hope in Dialogue

Zuzana Svobodová
University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Faculty of Theology, Department of Education, Kněžská 8, 370 01 České Budějovice

According to Gabriel Marcel, no task is more important and more complex than looking for ways of confronting and overcoming despair. Therefore, the search for the essence of hope is the objective of this paper. Reference is made to the theme of the open soul in Henri Bergson's, Gabriel Marcel's, and Jan Patočka's works. Such a soul is not centred in itself; moreover, according to Marcel, hope and soul are intrinsically linked together. Hope opens people towards the future. The concept of hope in the biblical context is shown briefly, according to which hope is in God (Ps 62:5), while God is coming to man. At the same time, biblical texts sketch a pathway to hope setting out from suffering, through endurance and character (Rom 5:3-4). The paper stresses that hope takes root in dialogue and that a person is empowered to adopt hope as a gift.

Keywords: hope, open soul, dialogue, Gabriel Marcel, Jan Patočka, theological virtues, acceptance.

Published: March 30, 2020  Show citation

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Svobodová, Z. (2020). Overcoming Despair: Open Soul, Hope in Dialogue. Caritas et veritas, 10(1), 176-183. doi: 10.32725/cetv.2020.016
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