Dialectic of Hope, Dialectic of the Prophet (Habakkuk)

Last updated on: July 10, 2019 at 5:43 am by John Mark N. Reynolds

Dialectic of Hope, Dialectic of the Prophet (Habakkuk) 2019-07-09T23:29:53-04:00 John Mark N. Reynolds

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

There is hope: hope for all of us who see injustice first in ourselves (God have mercy!) and then in the culture. We long to be just and to see social justice: the second growing naturally from the first.

Our hearts cannot rest without justice and we cannot live without mercy in the justice. Hope begins in the nature of God, Just and Merciful. Hope is not certainty, because there are no quick answers to particular problems, the cosmos is too complex for such responses. God deals with us in different ways, to fit our circumstances and what is best for us. How can we hope? Joyous news, we can ask God.

God is always here and is not always silent.

We can begin with Scripture, God’s never silent voice. We must read as a conversation, a dialog with the people of God who made the book and the God who inspired it. This is hope’s education toward faith.

Christain living, the education of our souls for bliss, begins and ends when a person dialogs with God sometimes alone and sometimes in a community. Educational dialog is often called Socratic and this is not wrong, since Socrates was so in love with the good, truth, and finding both through discussion, but in reality the practice is much more ancient stretching back from Athens to Jerusalem. When asked: “How could Socratic teaching possibly work when your college has a holy book like the Bible?” I answer: because of the Bible. Socratic dialog, even in so sublime a work as a dialogue of Plato, is a fumbling attempt at a dialogue, the image of God in Socrates reaching out to the Good God. The purest expression of dialog is the people of Israel hearing and speaking with the Good God over the pages of the Bible.

Dialog is necessary because people fell from the divine plan. We lost the answers and now must grow into maturity through investigation: we ask, we challenge, we grow. Sometimes, as in Ecclesiastes, questions are not answered and we wait. Other times, Jesus comes and asks us hard questions, leaves us with hard questions (eat his flesh? drink his blood?), but continues with us so we can see ourselves: show, not tell. The divine dialog every so often begins in the same pain and wonderfully ends when Jesus reveals Himself to us in the Great Feast.

Habakkuk is a dialogue, as pure in form as any written by Plato, but more divine. The prophet speaks to God and we listen. He is not talking to us, even if he is complaining about us, the broken, unjust people of God. We are failing in our social duty to the poor and weak. Habakkuk wonders when justice will come:

2O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save? 3Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. 4So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; justice goes forth perverted.

This is often the position of the remnant of the people of God: surrounded by injustice. More deeply, this is the situation of our own souls: the remnant, the seed of the Good God planted within us as his son or daughter, is paralyzed by our injustice. We are (often) remnants in a remnant.

That’s hard.

We want justice, but we need mercy!

God begins a hopeful response to Habakkuk:

5“Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told.

We see so little. The actions of a praying Christian in Mongolia, the man cheating his customers in a store in the Bronx, a fire in Lima, and the plans of a tyrant in a country thousands of miles away are all interlocked. The plan could not be manifest even to the greatest super computer in the world, because it includes actions at the atomic, sub-atomic, and cosmic levels. Every contingency is accounted for by Mind and the best comes for every person God loves.

We have hope, because God reveals the Plan, even if we cannot see all the confirming details.

On Books

On Education

Spiritual Reflections

Previous Post

July 9, 2019

On How We Got Morals, Versus The Nature of Morals

Next Post

July 11, 2019 Hope in God (Habakkuk)

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Apologetics Art Culture Education On Books On Education Philosophy Politics Pop Culture Spiritual Reflections Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 July 2025 June 2025 September 2024 July 2024 June 2024 December 2023 June 2023 September 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was the last judge of Israel and also a prophet?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Nathan Eli Samuel Saul

Books by This Author John Mark Reynolds

See All Titles »