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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
 3 LETTER FROM THE
EDITOR 4 FEAR AND LOVE
Joseph Rodriguez
6 A PRAYER
Ben Chow

7 HOPE-FULL
RELATIONSHIP
Corina Chen
9 THE THING WITH
FEATHERS
Corina Chen
10 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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 Fear
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LoveAN E
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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 him-
self—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 de-
pressed, 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 health-
iest 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 sprint-
ing 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 insecu-
rities and temptations to put my hope in peer approval.

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 Unhealthy relationships surround us
everyday. And yet, we struggle to es-
cape 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 relation-
ship 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 lin-

guistics 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 lin-

guistics 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

2 MARCU LOACHIM

R. MILLER

SASHA MIKHALUK

ZOCHITL FLORIMONT

JONATHAN GREEN

TIM CLARKE

4-5 R. MILLER

6 PATRICIA TSE

7 MIDORI H.

8 PATRICIA TSE

9 ZOCHITL FLORIMONT

10 PATRICIA TSE

BACK COVER PATRICIA TSE

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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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