Miroslav Volf het so amper twee maande gelede ‘n inspirerende praatjie gelewer by ‘n jaarlikse missional church konferensie van Luther Seminary wat ek hier in St. Paul (Minnesota) bygewoon het.  Sy titel was God, Hope, and Human Flourishing. Eers begin hy in sy praatjie met Jurgen Moltmann se onderskeiding tussen optimisme en hoop. Moltmann se futurum (optimisme) is wanneer “we survey the past and the present, extrapolate about what is likely to happen in the future, and, if the prospects are good, become optimistic.”  Maar, “hope, on the other hand, has to do with good things in the future that come to us from outside, from God; the future associated with hope – Moltmann calls it adventus – is a gift of something new.  Hoop is die fokus op God wat belowe om nuwe dinge vanuit die toekoms in ons midde te doen.

Volf gaan dan voort om ‘n baie insiggewende beskrywing te gee van die hedendaagse Westernse verstaan van human flourishing.  Hy toon veral aan hoedat hierdie verstaan sover gekom het om florering te definieer as satisfaksie of bevrediging:  “that a flourishing human life is an experientially satisfying human life.”  Dit beteken, “No satisfaction, no flourishing. Sources of satisfaction may vary, ranging from appreciation of classical music to the use of drugs, from the delights of haute cuisine to the pleasures of sadomasochistic sex, from sports to religion. What matters is not the source of satisfaction but the fact of it. What justifies an activity or a given life-style or activity is the satisfaction it generates. And when they experience satisfaction, people feel that they flourish.”