Joyful and daunting opportunities to live into God’s dream of justice and beloved community are compelling and available. Hope, says Luther Smith Jr., is essential to the needed personal and social transformations that prepare us for such sacred opportunities. Yet genuine hope is often confused as merely wish fulfillment, optimism, or perceiving better tomorrows. In the webinar, Smith will focus on how we truly perceive and join “the work of hope” that enlivens us to a life that is oriented toward immediate and future experiences of personal fulfillment, justice, and beloved community.  

Luther E. Smith, Jr., Ph.D. is Professor Emeritus of Church and Community, Candler School of Theology of Emory University. The title of his teaching position reflects his commitment to social transformation as an expression of religious conviction. Dr. Smith speaks and has written extensively on issues of church and society, congregational renewal, Christian spirituality, and the thought of Howard Thurman.