In the face of global ‘polycrises’, the question of the preconditions and possibilities for hope arises anew. While hope is a fundamental theological topic, in recent years there has also been a growing awareness especially in the field of political philosophy that hope as an emotion is crucial for the success of social transformation processes and the existence of stable democracies.

The dissertation project intends to expose the political and socio-ethical implications of the concept of hope against the background of Christian eschatology. To this end, an eschatological concept of hope is to be reconstructed, which will be linked to the paradigm of an ‘ethics of perception’ in order to then examine the role of hope narratives for social transformation processes. The connection between (religious) narratives of hope and their significance for the public sphere takes place against the backdrop of public theology. Within the dissertation project, drafts from Liberation Theology and Black Theology will be particularly considered.