Some methodologies for the study of conceptions of hope in Late Antiquity: preliminary exlporations

Hope as a historical experience is a fascinating but understudied area of enquiry. Previous study has tended to focus on hope as an intellectual construct or theological doctrine. However, this thesis advocates an approach to the study of hope grounded in the history of emotions. It attempts to build on recent debates in this field in order to move beyond a dichotomy of intellect and emotion, and to engage with hope as a personal experience which combines elements of thought and feeling. This thesis develops and employs a number of methodologies in order to examine the historical phenomenon of hope from a range of angles. It involves analysis at the level of the word, the sentence, the text and the corpus. It is structured around the individual case study of Augustine of Hippo, and begins by applying qualitative and quantitative analysis to a wide range of texts from the first five centuries AD in order to situate the individual within the wider historical context. It then examines the works of Augustine from a number of angles, exploring the vocabulary and semantics of hope, hope as a theological virtue, hope in (and as) metaphor, and hope in communication. Hope is an area of study fertile with opportunity. This piece is intended to lay some groundwork for such study; to present a range of methodologies, highlight further potential avenues of enquiry, and demonstrate what can be learned from such techniques about the historical human experience of hope.