ESCHATOLOGY AND CHILDHOOD HOPE: REFLECTIONS FROM WORK IN PROGRESS

Abstract

In much (if not most) Christian thought, the experience of hope and the doctrine of eschatology are intimately related (Marshall, 2006; Moltmann, 1967); they are allies, collaborators, co-authors in the cre­ ation of theological understanding. The two make distinct but mutu­ ally dependent contributions to theological reflection, but the voice of eschatology tends to carry greater authority in the church and academy; it is often privileged as the source that gives intellectual and theological credibility to discourses about hope. But hope can also back to eschatology, broadening and enriching Christian accounts of the last or final things that comprise the formal object of eschatological reflec­ tion. This speaking back can happen especially, I think, when hope expresses itself through the voices of contemporary children. Children speak from the paradoxical context of their lived strengths and vulner­ abilities (Bunge, 2009)—a reality that constructive theologian David Jensen (2005) calls graced vulnerability—and when they describe and express their experiences of hope, I often hear them imply or reference particular understandings and experiences of last or final things. This essay, then, explores what I am learning about eschatology as I listen to and engage children's voices about hope, especially the voices of children living with chronic illness. These reflections and the line of inquiry they represent emerge from my brief experience as a pediatric chaplain in the late 1990s. As pastor to patients, families, and staff (primarily in the emergency room and the pediatric and neonatal intensive care units), I found the hope-oriented practices and theories of pastoral theology mostly sufficient for caring with parents and staff. They offered little traction, however, for spiritual care among children, leading me to wonder how to nurture authentic hope—and sometimes authentic Christian hope—among children and adolescents who live primarily in the present, do not enjoy the privileges of the dominant culture, and tend to be more optimistic than hopeful.1