Christoph Kruck Geduldig die Hoffnung wachhalten – Zu den Tugenden der Hoffnung und Geduld bei Thomas von Aquin

About this book

Man thrives on hope: starting with the many small hopes of everyday life that the weather will be good or that the train will arrive on time, to the greater hopes of passing the final exam or finding great love. What all these hopes have in common is that they come and go and are often short-lived.

The situation is significantly different in existentially threatening situations, for example in the case of life-threatening illnesses or serious accidents. As a rule, all the small and everyday hopes dissolve and make way for the one hope for recovery and healing.

In such exceptional situations, Christian hope can also come into view at the same time, because according to Christian faith, man is (only) a pilgrim on earth, on the way to the still outstanding goal, which consists in the hope of eternal life and the completion of life in God.

This one hope is able to give man strength, inner youthfulness and true future.

Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) treats hope in detail in his main work, the Summa Theologiae, in the context of the three theological virtues – faith, hope and love. As the main sin against hope, he names despair, which results from a deep sadness of man about his divine filiation and the high nobility of being bestowed on him.

Thomas Aquinas identifies patience as an extremely effective virtue in order not to sink into hopelessness. By means of it, hope can be preserved even in phases of deep grief and discouragement. In addition, Aquinas names a number of other remedies to keep hope alive and strengthened, including simple physical remedies such as sleeping and bathing, which St. Augustine already resorted to.

The 750th anniversary of the death of St. Thomas on March 7, 2024 invites us to rediscover the thought and work of the Doctor communis.