Death and the Afterlife

Question 1

Hell: spiritual state

Answer 1

Origen
Each sinner deals with anguish at being separated from God
Pass away when world was restored

Question 2

Hell: own conscience

Answer 2

Gregory of Nyssa

Torture of Hell- result of guilty conscience when coming face-to-face with God

Question 3

Hell: tradition

Answer 3

Permanent place of punishment
If wicked no punished- God is lessened and his goodness questionable
Physical punishment as envisaged by Augustine

Question 4

Hell: Dante’s Divine Comedy

Answer 4

Poem

Imagery of a range of punishments fitting sins committed

Question 5

Hell: Paul Tillich

Answer 5

If God has reconciled all things to himself out of love- be immoral to exclude anyone
Hell = psychological sense of alienation
‘Heaven and hell must be taken seriously as metaphors for the polar ultimates in the experience of the divine’

Question 6

Hell: Catholicism

Answer 6

Eternal for mortal sinners
To die in state of mortal sin without repentance and accepting God’s merciful love- separated from God for ever
Urge people to use freedom well
God doesn’t want to use Hell- reserved for those who persistently reject goodness until final judgement

Question 7

Hell: John Hick

Answer 7

Universalist
Hell = ‘a bad eschaton’
‘The sufferings of the damned in Hell…can never lead to any constructive end’
‘The doctrine of Hell as its implied premise either that God doesn’t desire to save all His human creatures, in which case he is only limitedly good, or that His purpose has finally failed in the case of some…in which case he is limitedly sovereign’
To fit with Hick’s soul-making theodicy- reject Hell
Hell = more like Purgatory- process of soul-making resumes

Question 8

Purgatory: Ambrose

Answer 8

Foretaste of heaven and hell

Souls wait for judgement

Question 9

Purgatory: Origen

Answer 9

Probationary school

Soul was given chance to develop and perfect itself

Question 10

Purgatory: Gregory of Nyssa

Answer 10

Place of purification- people can enter heaven

Way of God completing his redemptive work

Question 11

Purgatory: Catholic Church

Answer 11

Picks up on NT idea of ‘cleansing by fire’- some sins can be forgiven after death
Another stage of soul’s journey- why Catholics pray for the dead
Catechism refers to Judas Maccabeus who prayed for the dead
‘All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven’ (Catechism, 1030)

Question 12

Purgatory: John Hick

Answer 12

Bridge between imperfection at death and perfection of heaven
Rejects idea of two judgements
Direct continuation of this life towards (universal) salvation

Question 13

Heaven: state (eternity)

Answer 13

More of a state (eternity) than a place in NT
People- ‘face to face’ with God (1 Cor 13:12)
Place of pure knowledge- sin has been purged, soul experiences pure joy (John 15:11)

Question 14

Heaven: spiritual place

Answer 14

Jesus- preached about heaven as spiritual place using terms of Kingdom of God
St. Paul- added in bodily resurrection (1 Cor 15); Parousia = delayed, early Christians were dying- new doctrine about what would happen to them needed to be developed

Question 15

Parousia:

Answer 15

Second coming/returning of Jesus Christ

Question 16

Heaven: restoration

Answer 16

Understood as restoration, not of relationship between humans and God but of whole of creation
Vision in Revelation 20-21- new heaven and new earth- no more sadness, God’s rule = complete

Question 17

Heaven: Catholicism

Answer 17

‘The perfect life with the Most Holy Trinity- this communion of life and love with the Trinity, with the Virgin Mary, the angels and all the blessed- is called heaven’ (Catechism, 1024)
State of supreme and definitive happiness
God reveals himself, people can know him in a new glorious way- beatific vision

Question 18

Beatific vision:

Answer 18

Everlasting bliss

Question 19

Heaven: radical theologians

Answer 19

Life after death = not physical/spiritual existence- individuals exist as biographies, stored in God’s eternal memory

Question 20

Heaven: D.Z. Phillips

Answer 20

‘Eternal life’ = not reference to life after death but quality of this life, lived morally in obedience to God

Question 21

Heaven: Jesus taught about the kingdom of God

Answer 21

Kingdom of God is ‘now’–> Jesus’ teachings talk about things being in process NOW e.g. healing miracles, NOW is time to set up new world order
Kingdom of God is ‘not yet’–> future state fulfilled in afterlife. Jesus’ teachings- Kingdom that is a future state of righteousness. Book of Revelation- New Jerusalem where righteous may live. Kingdom of God = future time of perfection of relationship between God and humans; Kingdom of God = understood to be a reference to Heaven
Kingdom of God –> symbolic meaning- symbol for when moral life reaches perfection

Question 22

Questions about Heaven, Hell and Purgatory?

Answer 22

Where will these places be?
Why are heaven/hell/purgatory necessary?
When will this happen?
When will the judgement take place?
Who will be saved? Election

Question 23

Where will these places be? Paul (1 Corinthians 15)

Answer 23

Embodied existence in heaven
Paul- glorified body, like resurrected Jesus
Resurrected body = free from disability and restored to perfection

Question 24

Where will these places be? Revelation

Answer 24

New Heaven and Earth created by God
World = restored to pre-Fall state- humans and God live together in harmony
Interpreted as physical or spiritual place

Question 25

Where will these places be? Traditional Christian views

Answer 25

Embrace dualism- soul leaving body and re-united with glorified body at Beatific vision

Question 26

Any view that envisages physical places encounters philosophical problems e.g.:

Answer 26

Where is this place of embodied existence?
Identity- in what sense am I ‘me’ without the same body?
Continuity- if I died and my body has changed (Paul), there has been a break in continuity; at what age will I be resurrected?

Question 27

Why are Heaven/Hell/Purgatory necessary?

Answer 27

Key idea of NT: reward and punishment in afterlife- wicked often prospered in this life and righteous suffer
‘Reversal’- Parable of Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16) to put right injustice
Parable of Sheep and Goats
Both OT and NT- need to help poor and exploited

Question 28

When will this happen?

Answer 28

Parousia = delayed- believers were getting old and dying- new solution was needed
Jesus said no one knows when Son of man will return (Matt 24:36)
Some of Jesus’ parables pointed to future

Question 29

When will judgement take place? General and final judgement

Answer 29

End of time
All people stand before God and be judged, rewarded or punished
Interpretation of parable of Sheep and the Goats

Question 30

When will judgement take place? Immediate (particular) judgement

Answer 30

Each individual at the time of death
Indicated by Luke’s Gospel in the Parable of Rich Man and Lazarus
Jesus said to the thief on the cross: ‘today you will b with me in paradise’

Question 31

When will judgement take place? Catholic Church

Answer 31

Both particular and final judgement (Catechism 1039)
Each soul judged on how they lived their life in relation to Christ
Either go to blessed state (heaven), purification (purgatory) or eternal damnation (hell)
End of the world- final judgement of all people in presence of Christ, then a new Heaven and earth

Question 32

When will judgement take place? Individuals condemn themselves

Answer 32

Individuals aren’t judged but condemn themselves

John 3:16-18- personal and continuing judgement

Question 33

When will judgement take place? Millenarianism

Answer 33

Revelation 20-26
Christ will return for 1000 years with saints and there’ll be a general judgement
Since Augustine, many see 1000 years referring to era of Church- Church’s role = administer God’s judgment on earth until the last day

Question 34

Who will be saved? 1 Timothy 2:4

Answer 34

‘God our saviour desires all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of truth’

Question 35

Who will be saved? Limited election- Matthew 22:14

Answer 35

‘Many are invited but few are chosen’

Question 36

Who will be saved? Limited election- Augustine

Answer 36

Only a few will be saved
Original sin created hold on humanity; God’s grace = required for salvation
Views changed over his life from thinking God knows who’s going to Heaven and Hell to idea of God being in control

Question 37

Who will be saved? Calvin

Answer 37

Followers created double predestination
Westminster Confession: ‘some men and angels are predestined unto everlasting life; and others foreordained to everlasting death’
Calvin = more subtle- double predestination was most ‘dreadful decree’ arguing God’s will is unknown
Christians need to preach Gospel to everyone- treat it like ‘unlimited election’ even if God already knows who will be saved. Both elect and non-elect have duty to act morally

Question 38

Problems with limited election:

Answer 38

Is Christ’s sacrifice on cross only for a few, not all people? Christ’s death = ineffective
CA: although Christ’s death = insufficient for redemption of all, it’s only effective for elect- non-elect not chosen for damnation, just chosen for election
John A T Robinson: ‘In the universe of love there can be no heaven which tolerates a chamber of horrors’- damnation of some to hell = not consistent with belief in Heaven