The concept of hope and its change in marginal situations

This work analyses the concept of hope and its significance in marginal situations of human life. The concept of hope is analysed from three perspectives: philosophical, psychological and theological, presenting the features of the theory of hope and the theology of hope, as well as the possibilities of strengthening hope as a spiritual resilience. The concept of marginal situations, their characteristics, the human attitude in the face of them, such as death, loss and other painful life events, the need for hope and its significance are presented. It has been found that during marginal situations a process of personal maturity takes place, the attitude of individuals towards faith, meaning and purpose of life changes. The attitude of a person in marginal situations depends on the direction of overcoming the crisis: with or without hope. The research on the movement of hope described in the work and the results obtained confirm that hope in marginal situations changes for most people, but not for all, and deepens the person's understanding of true and reliable hope, bringing him closer to the source of Christian hope. The final conclusion of the theoretical and research analysis of the concept of hope and its movement is that hope is faith: in the religious sense, when a person trusts in God, and in the non-religious sense, when a person trusts in himself, in someone else or in something else. Hope is characterised by a long-range and a short-range perspective. The former is more oriented towards transcendence and the supernatural life, the latter towards the hereafter, experiencing and making sense of the reality of life. Although their features may differ to some extent, it can be said that in both cases hope is an important factor in overcoming liminal situations. Hope as a process of personal change and belief is supported by philosophical, psychological and theological sciences and by the research carried out in this thesis. Hope is central to everyone's life, but its essence is most deeply understood in marginal situations