Death and the Afterlife Pt 2 Flashcards
How is hell shown as a spiritual state?
- Origen regarded as a spiritual state
- Not inflicted by God through Satan but an ‘interior anguish’ of being separated from God
- Thought hell was temporary and would pass when the world is redeemed
How is hell shown through conscience?
- Gregory and Nysa argued that the judgement and torture of hell is a guilty conscience in front of Christ
What is the traditional view of hell?
- A punishment that is eternal
- Necessary belief in Christ and repentance
- Hell illustrated God’s love and justice, he punishes the wicked
What was Dantes vision of hell? (Quote)
- Powerful and imaginative account in ‘Divine Comedy’
- Physical, mental and spiritual
- Created at the moment of Jesus’ death, Matthews Gospel says an earthquake cause the dead to awaken from their tombs
“Through me the way into the woeful city” - heavy imagery
What is hell characterised by for Dante, explain some of his imagery.
- Hell is characterised by Aristotelian and Christian vices which occupy one of 9 circles of hell
- Each sin has an appropriate punishment
- Ninth circle is where the most heinous vices live through sin/ treachery and misuse of reason
- Lucifer has his throne here, in Luke his wings flap so cold that the condemned cannot weep
What two cases does Dante refer to in his account of hell?
- Judas Iscroit who betrayed Christ
- Brutus and Cassius who murdered Caesar
- They deliberately destabilised God given moral/spiritual order + political order
- He forces us to think about the type of people we become through actions, no escape and no redemption as we have alienated ourselves from God
Should we abandon hell-type language as our cosmology proves it wrong?
- Existentialist Theologians argue there is a place of interpretation as psychological and spiritual description of human alienation
- Paul Tillich would argue through Origen that if God is all loving then it is contradictory and immoral to exclude some creatures
- Hell maintains psychological power
What is hell as a state of being?
- Alienated from the divine, no purpose in life
- No joy in music, art and nature
What does Jean-Paul Sartre’s play ‘no exit’ show about hell as a state of being and alienation?
- 3 people who have died are in a waiting room preparing for the conventional ‘fiery’ hell
- They discover that hell is living with lies, deceit, false relationship and cowardliness
- They torment each other about their failures and realise they have become the psychological torturers they were expecting
- The alienated/imprisoned human state, ends with the realisation there is ‘no exit’
What does the Catholic Church teach about hell?
- Hell is eternal separation who commit mortal sins
- Includes hating on ones neighbour and not meeting needs of the poor and weak
- Committing mortal sin without repentance and not accepting Gods merciful love and separating from him
What is Purgatory as a Foretaste of Heaven and Hell?
- Ambrose considered it a place for souls to await judgement and have a taste of what’s in store
What is Purgatory as Probationary School?
- Origen argued it was a place where the soul is given opportunity over ‘many worlds’ of experience to perfect itself
What is Purgatory as Redemption of the whole of creation?
- Gregory of Nyssa, similar to Origen, emphasised purifying purpose so all people could be cleansed and God completes purpose of redeeming and restoring his creation
What was Dante’s vision of Purgatory?
- For the souls of those who believed in Christ before death
- Have the opportunity to purge themselves of all wrong decisions/actions
- Unable to sin therefore the process is positive unlike hell
How is Dante’s vision of Purgatory an allegory of how life should be lived?
- A poetic description of the soul ascending ‘terraces of mountains’ who’s goal is the beatific vision
- Each terrace is one of 7 deadly sins and overseen by angels
- The earth like the mountain has temptations that the soul must conquer to achieve salvation (how life should be lived)
