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Article
What May We Hope For?
Bearings Online
(2019)
Abstract
During this Advent season, I am in a forward-looking and hopeful mood. But that also involves looking back to a point in my life, not that many years ago, when hope took on a new meaning for me. I was reminded of this point in my life over the past few weeks as I studied the notoriously difficult philosopher Immanuel Kant with several philosophy majors and minors.
In a rare moment of clarity, Kant once wrote that all important human questions can be boiled down to these three: WHAT CAN I KNOW? WHAT OUGHT I TO DO? and WHAT MAY I HOPE FOR? The Advent and Christmas seasons focus on the last of these three questions. A major figure in the seasons’ stories is John the Baptist, Jesus’ relative who, from a prison cell, once sent his disciples to ask his cousin a “What may I hope for?” question. “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?”
Disciplines
Publication Date
December 12, 2019
Citation Information
Vance G Morgan. "What May We Hope For?" Bearings Online (2019) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/vance-morgan/69/