A Theology of Human Hope

The author seeks to develop a viable theological account of "what it takes to make and to keep human life human in the world." To chart his course the author first examines, incisively yet sympathetically, the efforts of theologians such as Kierkegaard, Barth and Moltmann, and of humanists such as Nietzsche, Marx and Marcuse. As the author's argument advances, one quickly grasps the critically significant nature of this study. The major thesis is to show what separates humanistic messianism from messianic humanism. The former starts with man and stands or falls with the transcending powers of man. The latter believes from its historical experience in the humanizing determination of the transcendent. In short, the theological account the author offers is that of messianic humanism, a theology born out of a historical experience of liberation in spite of the collapse of all human resources.