Hope’s Work: Facing the future in an age of crisis by David Gee. Darton Longman and Todd (London 2021). Pbk. 159 pages. £7.75.
Facing the future in an age of crisis – there couldn’t be a more important subject when, as the author says, ‘many people who have for a long time involved themselves in the life of the world around them, confess a “fading faith” for the future of the life of the world.’
This is not a religious book, there are no theological arguments and indeed God appears in passing on fewer than half a dozen pages. Indeed, many Sea of Faith readers will be encouraged and amused by the fact that there are more pages with quotations from two books of our former editor, David Boulton! That’s not to say this isn’t a spiritual book. David Gee, who has spent a lifetime actively campaigning for peace and non-violence, is keen to address people of faith and no faith alike.
The book is quite small; 16 cm square, and the rather light-weight title font adds to a confusing mix on the front cover. The quote from Peggy Seeger might misleadingly hint at a self-help book, which it certainly isn’t. The cover image, by Judy Linard, ought to point to the serious nature of the book but my guess is that it will pass unnoticed by most readers until their attention is drawn to it on page 70.
But don’t be discouraged by the book’s appearance. It is a very serious book with a wealth of moving and heart-rending stories from refugees, asylum seekers, climate protesters, peace campaigners, conscientious objectors and dissidents, many who have suffered hugely and many who are known personally to David Gee. It’s full of memorable and thought-provoking quotations: ‘Hope lives not by optimism’s confidence in tomorrow but by a feeling for what is worth living for today.’ ‘The dignity of the unmet stranger carries no less value than that of the closest friend.’ ‘Hope, then is work: face the torment, mourn the losses, resist the violation of what deserves to be loved.’ ‘Disillusion – the sweeping away of illusions – is hope’s vital pain.’
At the heart of David Gee’s understanding of hope is the belief that violence is the enemy of hope, whether violation of the planet, violence against nations or the abuse of individuals. Consequently, his heroes are First World War conscientious objectors and the seventeenth century Diggers and their leader Gerrard Winstanley, in whom he sees something like the fire of what Palestinians refer to as ‘sumud’. Sumud is like a fire kept burning through a long night. They see by it, live by it, take comfort from it, refuse to be defined by the darkness of their occupiers’ colonial order. Sumud is a bond of solidarity, the shared conviction of a whole society that the cause of liberation is the duty of everyone. At its heart is the land – the place where you practise your being as a human being.
The book begins and ends with a parable: the Prologue is a retelling of Enuma elis, the Babylonian creation myth. It’s a powerful introduction to the establishment of civilisation through violent means. The Epilogue takes an imaginative slant on the story of the disciples fleeing Jerusalem, a story in which they find the hope to return. It’s told through the eyes of a woman.
These are an integral part of the book and yet they are printed in an italic version of the title font. I wonder how many readers will be tempted to omit them. I would happily recommend this book, along with David Gee’s website – hopeswork.org – to anyone who is struggling to keep faith with hope or depressed by the weight of crises facing us.
I have one reservation. The author describes the way in which new recruits in the army are trained to kill by obscuring the enemy’s humanity, and presenting him as a faceless, nameless male, a target, collateral damage. David Gee is guilty of employing the same tactic. He gives names to all those whose stories he champions, but the enemies of hope are men in suits playing war in their heads, greenwashing governments, corporate-backed, strongman-showman politicians. While this rhetoric may go down well in speeches, it does nothing to help us understand or engage with those in positions of power, who manage companies or serve as politicians. Solutions to the issues threatening us today will only be found by our working together. Hope comes through collaboration or as the stranger on the road to Emmaus had preached, through loving our enemies.
Stephen Mitchell is a retired priest and former chair of the SOF Steering Committee. His book God in the Bath was published by O Books (Winchester, 2006) and his Past Perfect by Christian Alternative (Winchester, 2018).