Introduction: When I was earning my M.A. in English many moons ago, I had a course that focused on the most influential writers of the Enlightenment. Among those was Alexander Pope and his An Essay on Man. Among its many memorable lines is this one: “Hope springs eternal in the human breast.” Yes and amen.

It reminds me of one of my favorite films, The Shawshank Redemption, with its emphasis on hope. “Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies,” wrote Andy to his friend, Red. Yes and amen.

Connection to Real Life: Hope. It is crucial. It affects so much. Over just the last week or so, a sea change is afoot among those to whom I am fortunate enough to minister, namely, soldiers. And do you know what their commanders are asking me to teach upon? Hope.

Oftentimes, the governmental and bureaucratic culture relabels it resilience. It’s fundamentally an issue of how and why we ought to press on when things are tough or even worse. Questions of how and why.

Those questions necessitate an ought, and that necessitates questions of teleology/purpose.

I don’t want to lose my audience with academic terminology, so I will just express it this way: A sea change of worldview is afoot, and I am hopeful. Again, yes and amen.