Heaven Flashcards
How has heaven been depicted in the Bible?
“My Fathers house has many rooms” - Johns Gospel
“The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass” - Revelations
What is the Catholic traditions belief of Heaven?
Catholic tradition believes in the beatific vision - described by Aquinas.
What does the Protestant church understand about Heaven
Protestants understand heaven as an everlasting existence (live forever with God, their loved ones in eternal worship)
What thought did Bernard Williams propose?
Bernard Williams wondered whether an eternity in heaven would really be desirable - maybe a bit boring after a while.
If we had perfect bodies and no physical limitation and whatever we wanted to do we could do it?
There is no concept of time there but is our mortality what makes being conscious worth something?
Who agreed with Bernard Williams and what did they state?
Catholic theologian - Karl Rainer.
He made the same point arguing that it is our limited earthly lives that gives them meaning and used it as a reason to support the view of a timeless afterlife.
Mortality questions the meaning of our lives in the afterlife.
Aquinas on the afterlife
Following the work of Aristotle on De Amina (on the soul), Aquinas taught how the soul was a ‘life principle’ and also the ‘form’ or distinctive characteristic of living things.
All living things have should (essential characteristics)
- Plants have a ‘vegetative soul’
- Animals have a ‘sensitive soul’
- Humans have a ‘rational soul’ capable of surviving death. This was because humans ability to reason and to think intelligently is not physical but non physical.
Linking this to the Christian faith, Aquinas believes that the soul allows us to reach our potential/accomplish our purpose = to live eternally in the precense of God.
Perfect happiness could only be achieved after death, living eternally outside of time in a state of perfect bliss.
This is known as the beatific vision = coming face to face with God
Beatific vision quote
“For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror, then we shall see face to face”
1 Corinthians
In the mirror we see a reflection of God because of Imago dei, but in the afterlife we see Him face to face.
What are some issues with Aquinas’ view
- If the soul is timeless - isn’t part of of who we are that our souls change according to a linear time.
What’s the point if we don’t change/improve/grow
- Is it really possible to assert that the person is experiencing the beatific vision is really the same person as the one before death
Again, the idea of personal identity.
