TAUG: Fear and Hope, Spring 2021

TAUG To An Unknown God: A Journal of Christian Thought At UC Berkeley

FEAR FEAR AND A ND HOPE HOPE Volume 14 | Issue 1 | Spring 2021

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

HOPE-FULL RELATIONSHIP Corina Chen

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FEAR AND LOVE Joseph Rodriguez

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THE THING WITH FEATHERS Corina Chen

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A PRAYER Ben Chow

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ART CREDIT

To An Unknown God is a student-run journal at UC Berkeley that endeavors to stimulate dialogue with the campus community through writing and artwork produced by Cal students. These semesterly publications engage with various topics through a Christian lens.

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Letter from the Editor Dear Reader, To An Unknown God, or TAUG, is a student-run Christian publication at UC Berkeley. Given the Covid-19 Pandemic and the subsequent transition to online platforms in the past year, it has been difficult for us to navigate our space and produce content. Despite these various setbacks, I am still happy to present to you our latest issue: Fear and Hope.

All it takes is the reading of news headlines to know that our society is well acquainted with fear.

Furthermore, I can also assure you that every student at UC Berkeley is familiar with the fear of failure and the fear of one’s future. And though you might have to look, hope surrounds us as well.

Walk through the streets of Berkeley and you will see people with hopes for a brighter future advocating for social change. We interact with fear and hope on a daily basis in the normalcy of our everyday lives.

So why did we release this issue? A Christian acknowledges that life is deeply and meaningfully intertwined with fear and hope. Open a page of the Bible and you will see real people burdened with fear and yet immensely hopeful. For a Christian, there is refuge from fear, and there is a hope which sustains day by day. A Christian’s hope rests not in their own efforts, but in the finished efforts of Jesus Christ.

In an age of uncertainty, I hope this issue, “Fear and Hope”, can illuminate the beauty found in the Christian view of life. Think of this as you read.

Benjamin Chow Editor in Chief

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One of the most powerful human emotions is fear. Fear is everywhere, we might say. It creeps in our lives at an early age, somehow built into our very DNA. This fear even reveals itself in our political lives, where it seems to reign.

Consider that fear plays a central role in the thought of the early modern political thinker Thomas Hobbes. In his famous Leviathan, Hobbes argues that politics is a creature of fear, especially the fear of death. Such fear can only result, Hobbes thinks, in a world of distrust, a world where each person is my natural enemy. We stand as individuals in this world, seeking, above all, self-preservation.

The Hobbesian challenge is that politics is—and ought to be—a creature of fear; and this is certainly the framework by which we make sense of our political landscape. Political figures tap into this fear, citing fears of social unrest, fears of losing “our nation,” fears of economic stagnation, fears of disunity—and much more.

Fear is multifaceted: There’s the fear of missing out (FOMO); there’s the inward fear, an internal fear that marks our restlessness; there’s the outward fear, a fear that points to the enemy, an instrument of intimidation.

We lock our cars because of fear. We do our yearly check-ups because—yes, we want to make sure we are healthy—but really because we are afraid we might be sick. We squirm at the homeless because we are afraid.

Why then are we so fearful?

Surprisingly, the first emotion experienced by a character in the Bible is fear.

This is the fear that leads him to discover that he is naked, that he must hide from God, that he must cover himself. It’s a paralyzing fear. It’s a fear that alienates, a fear that estranges.

But the greatest fear is, in the words of Tim Keller, “to be known and not loved.” What lies at the root of fear, if Keller is right, is knowledge without love, a knowing that is shallow, superficial. Many of us, however, do not want to be known.

We prefer to hide ourselves, to remain concealed. But deep down—despite hiding our aspirations, pains, joys, secrets—we want to be known and loved. Actually, we want to be recognized. There’s a deep demand for recognition that highlights a real human need to be seen and heard.

Christians believe in a God who became a man, the God-man who knows us and loves us. This God isn’t the god of the philosophers—the god who is pure “being” or absolute knowledge. Nor is he an aloof, far away god. He is the God who gave himself—a God who sacrificed himself, who has shown us agape, the love that is directed toward the other. In Jesus, God gives himself, the giver of life, the one who says “This is my body, broken for you.” He is the one who liberates us. He is the Good Shepherd who knows his sheep and who will abandon the ninety-nine to rescue the lost one. He is the one who dies for his enemies, mocked and scorned on a tree.

In him, we are both known and loved. In him, “perfect love casts out fear.”

Joseph is a fourth-year philosophy and political science major. He enjoys hiking, cooking, and black coffee.

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A PRAYER WORDS BEN CHOW

Lord, my heart is burdened.

I am forgetful.

The days are long and eventful.

Lord, take my burdens.

Remind me of your goodness towards me.

Renew my strength, and give me hope.

Ben is a sophomore studying philosophy. In his free time he enjoys playing guitar and singing with his friends.

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WORDS CORINA CHEN

HOPE-FULL RELATIONSHIP

We are inherently hopeful beings. Even the most depressed, disillusioned, or disappointed person among us is only so because whatever they placed their hope in has let them down.

As thinking and emoting creatures, we make decisions based on how we feel. What will make us the happiest? The most successful or the most comfortable? Or, if we are not seemingly so self-oriented, we make decisions based on how we think others will feel. How will they respond?

What will they think of me?

Our answers to these questions point to a deeper root—where we place ultimate hope. We place our hope in identities and relationships that we assume will confirm our self worth. This connection between identity, hope and worth is directly revealed in the relationships we live out in the world. At school, we look to our teachers to confirm our achievements. As voting citizens, we hope in our leaders, in our politics. Between friends, we place our hope in acceptance. And among believers, we may place our hope in the church’s recognition of our good works.

Constantly using our relationships to find hope is like using a candle on a stormy night to find our way again— we are putting an unhealthy strain on too weak a platform. The healthiest relationships ask nothing more of you than yourself. But to hope in a greater outcome, a greater result, as a consequence of such a relationship—such hope burdens the relationship.

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I remember a friendship I had back in middle school. My friend, Leanna, was on the same gymnastics team as me. We had practices and school together. As we got closer, we spent increasing amounts of time trying to perfect certain tumbling skills or balancing poses. The more we practiced however, the more my discomfort grew whenever I was around Leanna. She’d do an aerial, realize I couldn’t, and laugh. I would do the splits three different ways and she’d automatically try to do the same. Or better.

In high school, I had another friend, Maria. We did track and field, and for the first year did the same sprinting events. Of course, the difference in our race times became radically evident after only the first couple practices. She was fast, I was slow. During one of our warm-ups, in which we were to jog a lap around the track, I found myself sprinting to keep up with her. When I asked Maria why she was jogging so fast—perhaps she needed a reminder of what a “jog” really was—she laughed, “Oh, sorry, I was racing you.”

This is not me trying to showcase my lack of athleticism. Rather, I hope you can see within both these friendships the clear parallels of competition and approval.

For both Leanna and Maria, they viewed friendship as an avenue towards feeling better about themselves. While we started out healthy, the friendship was quickly complicated as they put their worth in performance—or, out-performing me. As they hoped to perform better and better, they used me as a barometer of that achievement. For myself, the friendship quickly became a burden, feeding my own insecurities and temptations to put my hope in peer approval.

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Unhealthy relationships surround us everyday. And yet, we struggle to escape the unhealthiness. We are made for relationship; how do we foster healthy relationships in church, work, or school?

I think part of this fostering begins with an understanding of fear.

Fear and hope are our intrinsically linked emotions. For every relationship in which we put our hope, we are using such places of hope in order to avoid our fears. We hope in performance— fearing disapproval.

We hope for acceptance— fearing rejection. In my friendships with Leanna and Maria, our hopes in the relationship, hoping to feel good about ourselves, echoed a fear of the opposite: negative self-image.

The problem with fear is how we deal with it. Fear is inevitable and crazy. It makes us act crazy, act like someone we wish we didn’t know. Where fear crops up in your life is a reminder of your humanity. I find that even as I strive to be perfect, I’m not, and every reminder of my imperfection is a moment of fear. I’ll catch myself trying to create a perfect outfit, and the rest of the day I’m uncomfortable in a shirt too short or tight. One offhand comment can make me spiral. I’ll leave assignments to the last minute, hoping I can whip out another quality paper like before, before fearing my essay’s results. I’ve realized that even as I know I’m not perfect, I desperately wish I was, and every place in which I fear is a place that reminds me where I do not have control. The more I fear, the more I hate the negative feelings such fear inspires within me, and I turn to distraction, suppression, or ignorance. Rather than pick at my fear, I run. My relationship with fear is a toxic system of pressure and results, no room for grace.

Where do we go from here? We are made for relationship, between ourselves, among others, and with the world around us. And yet, we cannot help but hope and fear—emotions that, when out of control, distort our relationships. These emotions are die rolled and cast, committing us to a serious wager within our relationships. It is not a matter of if we hope, but where we hope. What are you ultimately placing your hope in, and what are you fearing? For the Christian, we find that hope is not so much a place than a person. We are committed to hoping, striving against fearing, and therefore desperately need a new Hope.

Corina is a sophomore studying linguistics and English. When she’s not in class (or sometimes during, too) she enjoys working out, creative writing, snacking, and going to the beach.

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THE THING WITH FEATHERS WORDS CORINA CHEN

“Hope is the thing with feathers,” said Emily.

But it could have been any of us, trying to fly while facing our fears.

Corina is a sophomore studying linguistics and English. When she’s not in class (or sometimes during, too) she enjoys working out, creative writing, snacking, and going to the beach.

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ART CREDIT FRONT COVER

UGO CILIBERTO

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MARCU LOACHIM R. MILLER SASHA MIKHALUK ZOCHITL FLORIMONT JONATHAN GREEN TIM CLARKE

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R. MILLER

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PATRICIA TSE

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MIDORI H.

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PATRICIA TSE

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ZOCHITL FLORIMONT

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PATRICIA TSE

BACK COVER

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“Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased.

I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.

He will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets; a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory; and in his name the Gentiles will hope.”

Matthew 12: 18-21

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