Beliefs about heaven

Question 1

Quote from Thomas Aquinas on why we cannot fully know what the afterlife is really like?

Answer 1

‘that in the end language can only be related to what is experienced here, and give that the hereafter is not here, we can only infer.’

Question 2

How did Dante describe heaven in the early middle ages?

Answer 2

divided heaven into 10 layers 
early paradise
blinding light
light
beauty
planets
outer femement - fixed stars
imperium - saved angels administering like bees to dead
heaven = place of knowledge

Question 3

How did John Bunyan describe the soul’s journey to heaven and in what book was this written?

Answer 3

spiritual struggle

his autobiography - ‘The Pilgrim’s Progress’

Question 4

What makes the ideas of the Ancient Egyptians important?

Answer 4

ideas of heaven and hell remain constant

Question 5

What did heaven for the Ancient Egyptians focus on

Answer 5

The sun - sun = centred on heaven at noon

stars

Question 6

How was the journey of the sun around the earth significant for the Ancient Egyptians?

Answer 6

nightly journey under earth = applied to journey of soul - aspire to reach world of stars and Gods but may have to travel through darker underworld to get there.

Question 7

How does Valery Rees describe the journey of the sun under the earth?

Answer 7

‘journey in the realms of darkness’

Question 8

How did judgement play a part in life after death for ancient Egyptians?

Answer 8

After death soul required to give account of life + sins committed/ not committed - account given to Gond in presence of Spirit of Truth.
Heart weighed against feather of truth - heart heavy from sin - either devoured by monster, thrown into fires or wonder underworld amongst demons and grotesque things happening there. Heart free from sin - straight to gods + stars

Question 9

What does Valery Rees note about descriptions of heaven throughout the Bible?

Answer 9

consistent

Question 10

How does Valery Rees describe heaven?

Answer 10

watery + fiery - suggests clouds + stars

Question 11

What did the Zurastions (6th Century BC) believe about morality?

Answer 11

element of personal responsibility

Question 12

What forces did the Zurastrians (6th Century BC) believe the world’s divided between?

Answer 12

2 forces - good God + bad God - struggling for supremacy

Question 13

Why is the Zurastrian (6th Century BC) good God wounded to an extent?

Answer 13

couldn’t achieve goodness without our help - if your worked for good - helping God to establish good on Earth + throughout universe. Didn’t work for good - working for evil - hindering good God

Question 14

What did Zurastrians (6th Century BC) believe happened when you die?

Answer 14

come to ‘the bridge of the separator’ - if sided with evil, stuck with evil, if sided with good - good God (ahoramasda (?)) will see you safely over bridge.

Question 15

What did the early Church father tartulian (?) advise Christians against in his work ‘Day Spectaculis’ (?) (about 200AD) and why?

Answer 15

going to theatre - better spectacles in heaven - torments of the damned - roasting in flames - one of the eternal joys of heaven.

Question 16

What did the early Church Father Tartulian (?) believe people were doing if they did not take pleasure in the idea of watching the torments of the damned?

Answer 16

going against God’s will - God willed their eternal damnation

Question 17

What does the poem ‘Pearl’ written in 14th Century England suggest about heaven?

Answer 17

Man who’s daughter died when she was 2, sees daughter as young woman - the blessed = in heaven at perfect age
daughter describes herself as queen of heaven - all in heaven = kings and queens.

Question 18

How is the idea of everyone in heaven being kings and queens presented in modern culture?

Answer 18

Narnia - all 4 children crowned kings and queens

Question 19

what did the early church believe about the number of the damned compared to the number of the saved?

Answer 19

damned would far outnumber saved

Question 20

what did the Rabbi Ben Zafier (?) (1st Century AD) say regarding the difficulty of knowing what heaven is really like?

Answer 20

‘no eye can see, no ear can hear, no mind can comprehend what heaven is like.’

Question 21

What was the Garden of Eden viewed to be?

Answer 21

Paradise, but only 1 part of heaven

Question 22

What description of heaven developed throughout the middle ages and was supported by Thomas Aquinas?

Answer 22

heaven = place of light + serenity + all minds turned towards God in praise + lack of concern for punishment

Question 23

where does the idea of a ladder up to heaven come from?

Answer 23

Bible e.g. Jacob’s ladder - when he lies down to sleep at Bethel + and angels going up + down ladder leading up to heaven.

Question 24

What was St. Paul’s idea of heaven?

Answer 24

hierarchical
3 heavens - vault of heaven, above that the sphere of the sages, the wise, those who have been saved, the righteous and above that the imperion (?) - experience blinding presence of God

Question 25

Why would it have been difficult for St. Paul to describe heaven in a way that would fit everyone’s views of it?

Answer 25

Jewish concept of bodily resurrection + greek notion of body being tomb of the soul.

Question 26

Before the reformation, who did Catholic Church believe would be saved?

Answer 26

all those who were members of the Church.

Question 27

Why were gravestones introduced more after the reformation?

Answer 27

more personal relationship with God - mattered more what you had done and whether you had been a good person - gravestone allows God to find + identify you on judgement day.

Question 28

What did John Dunn believe about what happens after death + quote?

Answer 28

resurrection of the body - God would send angels and every atom of his body would be collected back together + would go to heaven with body - believed he would be able to say ‘as soon as my soul enters heaven (that is before resurrection of the body) I shall be able to say to the angels I’m of the same stuff as you spirit and spirit and therefore let me stand with you and look upon the face of god. Then at the resurrection of my body, I’ll be able to the son of God , Jesus Christ, I’m of the same stuff as you body and body therefore let me sit down with you at the right hand of the father.’

Question 29

What was Marcilio Verchino’s belief about the link between heaven and earth?

Answer 29

everything in heaven has reflection + counterpart on earth