Waiting at the Foot of the Cross

How do we hope in the face of modernity's failure and postmodernity's absence of foundations? How do we hope when the future seems fearful and no clear way forward appears? How do we hope when despair, indifference, and cynicism dominate the psychic landscape of English-speaking North America? In dialogue with theologians of the cross George Grant and Douglas John Hall, this book unmasks the failure of hope in our time and the vacuum of meaning that remains. As an exercise in the theology of the cross, Waiting at the Foot of the Cross explores the North American context as one in which true hope is discovered only when life's negations are engaged from a posture of waiting trust. Such hope is not passive or blind. Rather, it is attentive, active, open, and spiritually grounded in the One who meets us when all hope is spent. The final chapter proposes a way toward hope for today that inspires subversive resilience in the face of the ambiguities and vicissitudes of life. Readers interested in the theology of the cross, in thinking theologically in our time and place, and those interested in the character of Christian hope will find this book compelling. "Pamela McCarroll makes an eloquent plea for North American Christians to commit a subversive and countercultural act. Her creative application of the theology of the cross effectively reinterprets our primary vocation in terms of waiting in hope, open to a hidden God whom we cannot master. This book is important for all who are caught in systems of modernity that limit hope to what we can imagine." --Sarah Travis, Adjunct Professor of Homiletics, Knox College, University of Toronto, Canada "Waiting at the Foot of the Cross is a compelling invitation to reconsider the theology of the cross in a North American context through the complementary lenses of George Grant and Douglas John Hall. Far more than simply a recapitulation of Grant and Hall, however, the discussion turns over new theological ground and offers a thick account of hope as 'waiting' that is both prophetic and consoling. McCarroll has written an important and timely book." --Thomas E. Reynolds, Associate Professor of Theology, Emmanuel College, University of Toronto, Canada "Her focus is 'hope at the end of hope' when crises of violence, poverty, and ecological devastation threaten as never before. Elaborating Grant's and Hall's criticism of technological mastery, she proposes a theology and practice of hope which is the converse of mastery, which both waits and acts, in a posture of trust and openness to the God of the cross. An important contribution to North American theology today!" --Harold Wells, Professor Emeritus, Systematic Theology, Emmanuel College, University of Toronto, Canada "Ultimately, McCarroll envisions practices of a hope that waits at the foot of the cross. Hers is a crucial word for the once-mainline-church in a postmodern world." --David Schnasa Jacobsen, Professor of the Practice of Homiletics and Director of the Homiletical Theology Project, Boston University School of Theology "McCarroll's unique contribution shines through as she advances 'waiting at the foot of the cross' as a posture of receptivity that eschews easy cynicism while anticipating a hope not seduced by the official optimism symptomatic of American exceptionalism. A must read!" --Allen Jorgenson, Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology, Assistant Dean, Waterloo Lutheran Seminary, Wilfred Laurier University, Waterloo Ontario. Pamela R. McCarroll is Assistant Professor of Pastoral Theology and Director of Field Education at Knox College in the University of Toronto. She is certified as a Teaching Supervisor by the Canadian Association of Spiritual Care (CASC) and ordained in the Presbyterian Church in Canada. Pam's int