Charts a course through the equally inadequate options of despair and optimism to a responsible understanding and practice of Christian hope. Christian theology and ethics have long fought a battle with two defective views of human life. On the one hand despair has seen the world as irreclaimably flawed and incapable of redemption. On the other optimism has ignored life’s tragic dimension and negated its need of redemption. To these false alternatives Ellen Ott Marshall offers the possibility of authentic Christian hope. Drawing on sources from Aristotle to Picasso, Marshall argues for a Christian way of life that recognizes the persistent reality of tragedy and evil, yet refuses to give these the final word. A responsible theology and practice of hope sees the world for the mess that it really is, yet with the prophet still commits to pursuing the vision of peace, wholeness, and the reign of God. Ellen Ott Marshall is Associate Professor of Ethics at Claremont School of Theology in Claremont, CA.To read the Introduction, click here.