Still thinking about hope. It's just something I want to work out for myself, and express in a unified and consistent way. Biblical hope. Christian hope.

I mean, the nature of Biblical encouragement is the offer of hope. Not just any hope, of course, and not simply hopeful sounding words (Cheer up, Big Fella!), but the only legitimate, believable, and life-saving hope. Jesus Christ.

Now, there's a little book on this subject, long out of print, called The Meaning of Hope, by C. F. D. Moule. This is perhaps the only book of its kind, a careful and reasoned exposition of the Biblical meaning of hope. What I think I'm going to do in the next few days here at Mr. Standfast is summarize this book, chapter by chapter. Keep in mind that I, like the great English historian Paul Johnson, write to learn. And there's just a remote chance that some of you might find this process of writing and learning reasonably interesting. So I'm going to use this blog to record my notes on Moule's fine book, The Meaning of Hope. Coming soon, chapter 1!