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Hope for the world

The Christian vision

Can we be optimistic?

HOPE FOR THE WORLD
The Christian Voice
By Roland Chia
IVP. 156 pages. £5.99
ISBN 1 84474 121 2

Come with the author to South East Asia to the marketplace of ideas and clashing world views vying for a hearing, and consider with him what it is about the Christian world view that can offer hope to a beleaguered and fearful world.

Roland Chia of Trinity Theological College, Singapore, has penned a surprisingly comprehensive yet concise exposition of Christian hope as it is established in God, in radical contrast to both secular notions of ‘progress’ and ‘optimism’ and Hindu and Buddhist accounts of suffering and existence.

Chia ably and lucidly demonstrates how the entire Bible is permeated throughout by a message of hope. Incorporating Asian perspectives, he shows how Christian hope ‘presses beyond the limits of both secular and religious world views and confronts the reality of pain, suffering and death in the light of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ’. He gives a thoroughly biblically-grounded account of the hope of Israel, moving through to discussions about the Kingdom of God, life beyond the grave, the final state, the Second Coming and the new creation. The final chapter, ‘Living in hope’, discusses the worship and expectancy, even in the face of evil and suffering, that should characterise the Christian’s life.

The book assumes some familiarity with the outlines and debates of biblical theology and this could be regarded as a non-technical entry-level guide to the subject of eschatology; it will be of particular interest to those looking for an orthodox non-Western exposition and application of the Christian faith. It is a great practical account of how Christians can engage intellectually with contemporary religious melting-pot cultures and so how we can live distinctive lives through the hope that we have in Christ.

Kathy Cowan,
1st Saintfield Presbyterian Church, Co. Down, Northern Ireland