An Excerpt from Hope Begins Where Hope Begins by Michael Downey

Hope is alive in our times, says theology professor Michael Downey. Here are some of his definitions of this practice.

"Hope is the very heart and center of a human being. There is simply nothing more central to human life. But, strangely, we human beings who need hope more than anything else in life have written so little about it. In a good deal of Christian theology, hope seems to be something like a proverbial 'middle child,' sandwiched in between affirmations about the priority of faith and the excellence of love.

"Hope is the very condition for the possibility of believing and loving. It is openness to the light of faith and to the action of love. Hope is the capacity in each of us that is open to God's truth and love. It is that quality in the human being that is open to possibility, to new things happening."