We live in hopeless times. Economic collapse, the threat of global war. The climate breaking down around us. All this before we have had the time to process the trauma of the Covid-19 pandemic, which alone caused a 25% increase in anxiety and depression disorders around the world.¹

It might seem like this predicament has no parallel in our history. Surely there can be no established guide for dealing with all of these problems at once. But if we look back, we find one man who speaks to our sense of dread. 

Saint Augustine of Hippo, a theologian from North AfricaThe northern portion of the African continent in the early 5th Century, evoked the "many and grave evils" that afflict human beings, ranging from "disturbances" and "deceptions" to "diseases" and "wars".

In fact, Augustine was generally quite a gloomy person. He argued that all human beings are corrupted by original sinThe state of sin that some believe all humans are born into due to the sin of the first man, Adam., and this means they are unable to choose good actions. Unbaptised children will all go to hell. No-one can live a life without sin.

No wonder Augustine is often thought of as a pessimist. But one author thinks we have got him all wrong. Historian Michael Lamb even believes the African saint can help us to navigate the problems we face in the modern day.

After all, Augustine's times bear a striking resemblance to ours. The climate was deteriorating. Pandemics were a constant threat: the Antonine Plague is thought to have killed about 10% of the population of the Roman EmpireLasting from 27BC to 476AD, the Roman Empire controlled regions around the Mediterranean in Europe, North Africa and Western Asia. , and as much as two-thirds of some cities died of the Plague of Cyprian.²

There were also mass movements of people that destabilised governments everywhere. From the late 4th Century, masses of Gothic tribesThe nomadic Germanic people who fought against Roman rule in the late 300s and early 400s A.D. began making their way into the Empire. Roman forces were unable to manage them and in 410, Rome was sacked by some of these Goths.

In the face of such disasters, many people simply fell into despair. But Augustine thought this was the wrong approach. He argued despair is a viceImmoral or unjustifiable behaviour. if it gives us an excuse not to take action to improve things, or even to make things worse.

He compared those in despair with gladiatorsAncient Roman fighters who would stage battles and duels for the entertainment of large crowds. Although this is often thought of as a bloody sport, in reality it was quite rare for gladiators to be killed: their aim was to incapacitate their opponent. who know they will die in the arena. Because they have no hope of survival, they either allow themselves to be killed, or take as many others with them as they can, causing only more pain.

The correct response to hardship, he argued, is hope. By hoping for a better future, we also give ourselves the will to bring it about.

Lamb says Augustine's idea of hope offers us a middle way between pessimism and optimism, despair and overconfidence. It is not a good thing to assume that good things will always happen, as optimistic people do. But it is equally bad to dismiss the possibility that they could ever happen.

Instead, we must cultivate our hope that a better world can be built out of the challenges we face. Hoping for a stable climate, just political systems and peace on Earth is the first step towards achieving a better future, because only hopeful people will be able to bring it about.

Yes: Hopelessness is a kind of self-indulgence. It lets us watch people's suffering without lifting a finger. But becoming hopeful about the future gives us the tools we need to make it better.

No: Hope did not help Augustine. At the end of his life, his city was overrun by Goths. The chaos in Europe only worsened and a few decades later the Western Roman Empire fell.

Or... Hope is important, but it is not enough in itself. If we are to overcome the challenges that face us, we might need to channel our despair and make use of our survival instinct as well.