Original scientific paper
FEARING THE GLOBALISATION?
Marijan Jurčević
; Theology of Rijeka, Dislocated Studies of Catholic Faculty of Theology, University of Zagreb, Rijeka, Croatia
Abstract
It is obvious that a globalisation is going on, but it is not so obvious what’s going on with the mankind and his path to the future. There are people expecting “miracles” from a globalized world, while others are filled with fear, perceiving it almost as the end of the world. According to the Christian anthropology, there are three main virtues: faith, hope and love. Without these three virtues, a man can not live normally nor fully. This reflection deals only with one virtue: hope. Hope is the light directed towards the future, a stimulation for the present life and action. We can nurture hope, but we can also destroy it. What are the perspectives for this virtue in the globalized world, while different religions and cultures interfere with each other, in a world where everything tends to be relativized? Precisely, what is happening to the Christian hope in a changing, universal world? Hope is opened and introverted at the same time, often equalled with wish or desire. Nevertheless, since hope involves the entire man it is deeper and more real than a wish. All goals can be understood as hope, therefore hope is a synthesis of all goals and finalities. From a Christian standpoint, hope is the way towards the “promised land”, towards an individual and communal realisation, hence it has a positive direction. A historical analysis will show a duality: the opposition between the vertical hope, tending towards high (a sign of a former civilisation), and a horizontal hope, prospected forward, which characterises the world affected by globalisation. The Christian hope should have both traits: directed towards high and forward. Hope is a feature of young people, while the elderly have either a “live hope” or hopelessness. This is a possible criterion for hope of the global community: “if you do not become as children…” This is a permanent position of the Bible, therefore of the Christianity too. Past is less important than the future for the globalised world, the beginning is less important than the ending. From this standpoint, hope enables the man to start living the future. What kind of hope do we have in the contemporary world, in the contemporary Europe, which is not called Christian anymore, as well as in the media? Who is left to ignite the hope? Without hope the future will be either utopia or fear. Christian hope is not a fantasy or a utopia, it is a dynamic and an energy taking us forward. It is not a product of an ideology or of a belief: it is a gift to be lived. Globalisation should not be a source of fear, but it should be lived filled with love, hope and faith.
Keywords
man; globalisation; future; fear; hope
Hrčak ID:
220770
URI
Publication date:
10.8.2008.
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