New York Encounter: Reasons for Hope
Saturday, January 17, 2009 at 3:00PM A discussion on hope and its rational foundations in light of the second volume of Msgr. Luigi Giussani’s new book Is It Possible to Live This Way?
Presented by Crossroads Cultural Center
and Communion and Liberation
Two recurring themes in public life during the last year have been change and hope. The ability to look at the future with hope, and not to be afraid of change, is one of the distinctive aspects of our society. It is very positive that our culture still places so much value on the desire for fulfillment, and on the need to find an ideal to which one can dedicate his or her own life. On the other hand, this same culture is often unable to formulate clear, realistic ideals of what it means to be human and to live a good life. As a result, behind the rhetoric of “hope” often lies the temptation of cynicism and despair, because in fact we live in a time of deep uncertainty about the ultimate value of life and the possibility of real happiness.
It is not by chance that Pope Benedict XVI chose to dedicate one of his first encyclicals to the theme of hope. In Spe Salvi the Pope went as far as saying that the whole point of Christian Redemption is that we have been given hope, by virtue of which we can face our present: the present, even if it is arduous, can be lived and accepted if it leads towards a goal, if we can be sure of this goal, and if this goal is great enough to justify the effort of the journey. The Pope goes on to say that this kind of hope is only possible when we have the knowledge of being loved, which for Christians is the knowledge of Faith. Hope is not utopianism when there is something in the present that makes us certain about the future.
The reasonableness of hope and the possibility to pursue an ideal that is not a utopia are also the subject of a new book by Msgr. Luigi Giussani, published McGill-Queens University Press.
About this Event
Date: Saturday, January 17, 2009Time: 7pm
Location: Jack H. Skirball Center for the Performing Arts at New York University
566 LaGuardia Place at Washington Square South, New York
Tickets: The conference is open to the public. Free admission ticket is required.
Free tickets (first-come, first-served) will be distributed at the Skirball Center Box Office starting at 2:00pm on 1/17/2009
About the Speakers
Lorenzo Albacete Msgr. Lorenzo Albacete is a theologian, author and columnist...
John L. Allen, Jr. National Catholic Reporter, Senior Correspondent, CNN Senior Vatican Analyst
Julian Carron President of the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation
Edward Nelson Professor of Mathematics, Princeton University
Invitation
Download the Invitation hereTranscripts
Read transcript hereRead Prof.Nelson's speech here
Report on the New York Encounter
Read the report herePhotos
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