Hope and Transcendence

Beyond the temporal hopes for good earthly life and civilization brought about by human effort, exemplified by the work of Ernst Bloch and other non-religious, humanist socialists, and hyper-technologists, there are two versions of religious hope relying on a transcendent power to realize a good beyond human ability to bring it about. The first is the hope of religious groups hoping for a small, transformed part of the world we know, whose transformation is brought about by Divine help: e.g., Hutterites, Moravian Brethren, Diggers, Amish, Quakers, Mennonites, Shakers, early Mormons, et al. This sort of hope for a divinely inspired earthly community will not be a part of our discussion here.