Death + Afterlife

Question 1

Theological ideas about afterlife

Answer 1

are based on the resurrection of Jesus, his kingdom of God teachings and several NT teachings including: the parable of the sheep and the goats - Matthew 25:36-41

Question 2

Revelation 20-21 (physical)

Answer 2

the vision in Revelation 20-21, depicts a new heaven and earth, where there are no more tears/ sadness and where Gods rule is complete

Question 3

Origen (physical)

Answer 3

viewed heaven and hell as a restoration of the earth to it’s pre fall state, where the whole creation as well as human relationships with God are restored

Question 4

Aquinas (physical)

Answer 4

suggest that a purified soul is reunited with it’s purified body ( ST Pauls version of bodily resurrection 1 Corintheans 15) before it meets God face to face; also known as the beatific vision

Question 5

Augustine (physical)

Answer 5

thought hell as a permanent and physical place of punishment where Gods justice is seen and the wicked are punished for eternity

Question 6

Issues with the view that heaven and hell are physical places

Answer 6

philosophical problems - 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 (Pauls glorified body), there has been a break in continuity; at what age would I be resurrected

Question 7

Heaven and hell as spiritual states

Answer 7

in this view, there is no need for a physical body, many understand Jesus’ teachings as a referral to a spiritual kingdom

Question 8

Gregory of Nyssa and Origin (spiritual)

Answer 8

see hell as a state of anguish, your own conscience tortures and regrets and realisation of sinfulness but that it would pass away when the soul was restored

Question 9

heaven and hell as a spiritual place solves….

Answer 9

the philosophical problem. ie where it is. as no physical location is needed

Question 10

issues of heaven and hell as spiritual places

Answer 10

identity - how is an immaterial soul, me?

Question 11

heaven and hell symbolic of life on earth

Answer 11

there is no life after death, the terms heaven, hell and purgatory simply refer to states of morality and experienced during life. Heaven would be the sum total of all happiness and good experienced. Hell is the total of all suffering from the consequence of sinfulness in their life

Question 12

ethical reading of the sheep and the goats and kingdom of God (symbolic)

Answer 12

interpreted as ‘now’. Christian following Jesus’ teachings, will bring about the kingdom of God by following his example in helping the needy and marginalised.

Question 13

D.Z Phillips (symbolic)

Answer 13

eternal life is not a reference to life after death, but the quality of life, lived morally in obedience to God

Question 14

Symbolic idea of heaven and hell solve….

Answer 14

problems of identity, continuity

Question 15

Problems with the symbolic idea of heaven and hell

Answer 15

scholars need to reinterpret Jesus’ resurrection, Revelation 20-21, Matthew 25 as a myth

Question 16

John Hick

Answer 16

‘the sufferings of the damned in hell…. can never lead to a constructive end’. The idea of infinite suffering for finite sin seems unjust