Hope and covenant from the paradigm of creation in the journey of the people of God

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to understand the place occupied by hope in the journey of the people of God, driven by the expectation of the fulfillment of God's promises attested in the covenant accounts. The method used for this purpose is the literary analysis of the biblical text itself and of biblical commentaries on the subject. To this end, a prior methodological assessment of the vocabulary and semantic field used by Scripture to refer to the theme of hope is required. The steps to follow are survey of the terms used to refer to hope, broadening this etymological understanding by considering the semantic field of hope, and reflecting on the journey of the people of God driven by hope. Therefore, the etymological analysis is enriched by the theological analysis of some key events in the life of the people, in the Old and New Testaments. This path leads to the perception that there is an ecclesiological notion that goes beyond the limits of historical Israel and the primitive community, reaching a universality of the people of God. This notion is based on the new, broader and more definitive covenant based on Christ, which leads to the urgent need to raise awareness of integral ecology.