Finding hope in an age of cynicism
Hope is such a precious commodity. Without we can't live, we won't live - certainly not as we were intended to live. Here's an article by Jason Duesing that encourages Christians in particular to be a hope-full people. It first appeared here on the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention Choose hope
Jason Duesing is the academic Provost and Associate Professor of Historical Theology at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri, USA.
Jason Duesing is the academic Provost and Associate Professor of Historical Theology at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri, USA.
CHRISTIAN, CHOOSE HOPE IN AN AGE OF CYNICISM
When I was young, faced with washing dishes or some other
such chore, my siblings and I would wonder when science would catch science
fiction and our home would function like The Jetsons, where
everything was automated awesomeness.
In the decades since then, our world does indeed resemble
the dreams of yesterday’s science fiction, but it has also travelled further
into dystopia. As one columnist wrote, “In
contrast to science fiction tales set in fantastical futures on distant
planets, dystopian novels take the anxieties of people on earth and amplify
them.”[1]
With instant global interconnectedness alerting us to all
forms of tragedy and conflict, our society appears to have defaulted either to
resigned despair or distracted indifference. When regularly our leaders
disappoint us by their actions and their human flaws are flouted and magnified
due to our relentless and merciless scrutiny, it’s easy to see why many have
come to a collective understanding that no one can stand with a message of
hope. Once a small genre of fiction literature, dystopian-themed novels, games,
and movies seem now to be the predominant world in which entertainment takes
place, and increasingly the real world as well.
Hope, rather than dystopia, is the fiction of our day. What
happened?
Active and passive cynicism
In the process of avoiding the anxiety of a Big Brother
governmental takeover like in George Orwell’s 1984, society instead
followed Neil Postman’s prediction that we would amuse ourselves to death. And,
with anxiety and amusement gone, only cynicism remains.
In 2015, composer Mohammed Fairouz wrote, “The age of anxiety has given way to the age of cynicism. Among my
generation, cynicism is no longer a bad word: it’s being celebrated, and it is
often mistaken for intelligence.” The age of cynicism, Fairouz continues,
is where “it is better to be wry and
distrustful than to be open and trusting.”[2]
Luis Navia, in his critical study of classical cynicism,
explains that in modern times a cynical person is:
someone who rejects
ethical values and ideals . . . and who reacts sceptically and sarcastically to
even the most innocent and well-intentioned human actions. For such a person,
most if not all human activities are suspect and unworthy of trust, since no
one, according to the cynic, ever seeks or pursues anything except for the
specific yet often secret purpose of benefiting himself. For the cynic,
accordingly, hypocrisy and deceitfulness, primitive selfishness and unbounded
egotism, and gross materialism and disguised ruthlessness are the hidden
characteristics of all human behaviour. Hence, the cynic does not believe in
ideals or lofty aspirations, which are in his mind only linguistic and behavioural
games promoted for the purpose of manipulating and duping people, or ways to
hide the enormous state of confusion that permeates the average human
consciousness.[3]
The Christian and cynicism
However, Christians should take heed, for we, as those
living in this world, are prone to bend toward it. Often, the pull toward
cynicism is easier to follow than the struggle to resist. Sarcasm comes too
easy, complaining is default small-talk, and despair can mark us more than joy.
Often, the pull toward cynicism is easier to follow than the
struggle to resist. Sarcasm comes too easy, complaining is default small-talk,
and despair can mark us more than joy.
John Bunyan, in his allegory of the Christian life, Pilgrim’s
Progress, introduces a character named Hopeful to aid Christian on his
journey “from this world to that which is
to come.”[4] Hopeful
is a fellow pilgrim who joins Christian after his earlier companion, Faithful,
was martyred. Bunyan describes him in phoenix-like terms as rising out of
Faithful’s ashes.
Hopeful proves a worthy and helpful companion to Christian.
When they were imprisoned together in Doubting Castle by the Giant Despair, it
is Hopeful’s words that helped calm Christian’s mind. Later, as they neared the
end of the journey and were faced with crossing a deep river in order to enter
the gate to the Celestial City, Christian began to despair, and as they waded
in, he began to sink. At that moment, Hopeful provides the encouragement that
pulls Christian across the finish line: “Be
of good cheer, my brother, I feel the bottom, and it is good.”[5]
Christian reader, in a cynical age where despair abounds,
there is a mere hope that has found the bottom, and it is good.
This article is an excerpt from Mere
Hope: Life in an Age of Cynicism.
NOTES
- ^ Nick
Ripatrazone, “The strange hope of dystopian fiction since The
Road,” The Christian Century, July 17, 2017,
https://www.christiancentury.org/article/
strange-hope-dystopian-fiction-road.
- ^ Mohammed
Fairouz, “The Age of Cynicism,” On Being, July 25, 2015,
https://onbeing.org/blog/ the-age-of-cynicism/.
- ^ Luis
E. Navia, Classical Cynicism: A Critical Study (Westport, CT:
Greenwood Press, 1996), 1.
- ^ John
Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress (1678), updated and edited by C. J.
Lovik (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2009).
- ^ Ibid.
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