Death And the Afterlife

• Plato on death *Republic*

  • we should "practice dying"
  • Celebration of death has been around for centuries
  • Orthodox monks keep coffins in rooms to remind them of death
  • Peter Vardy did this!
• Jewish beliefs on life after death

  • Genesis: "Then Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man and full of years, and he was gathered to his people"
  • Justifies existence after death, "gathered to his people" = phrase used in Old Testament thus hints at post mortem reunion
  • Old Testament: "Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt"
  • resurrection and judgement in afterlife
• Christian teachings on afterlife

  • reject reincarnation
  • reject dualism
  • post mortem existence, it's resurrection
• Christian views on Hell

  • J.P Sartre *Existentialism is a Humanism* - "Hell is other people"
  • N.T Wright *Small faith, Great God* - Exclusivist (only reach Hell w/o God) as rejection of God means that you wouldn't be an "image-bearing" of Him; we're made imagio dei
  • C.S Lewis *Mere Christianity* - eternal separation from God "All that are in Hell, choose it"
• David Hume on Hell *Treatise of Human Nature*


  • Concept of Hell questions God's justice
  • God is omnibenevolent: a finite sin can never deserve infinite punishment
  • "the greatest part of mankind float betwixt vice and virtue." - hell doesn't represent Human Nature's complexity
  • John Hick *The Metaphor of God Incarnate*:
  • Eternal punishment not compatible w/ omnibenevolence
  • Hell developed as a form of control for disobeying religious authorities
  • “such unending torment could never serve any positive or reformative purpose precisely because it never ends.”
• Hell is eternal

  • constantly spoken of in Bible: Mark 9: "Place of eternal fire"; Matthew 22: "weeping and gnashing of teeth"; Catechism of Catholic Church: "For [Hell] ... is necessary, and persistence in it until the end"
  • People cannot be given an infinite chance: C.S Lewis argued that Hell is eternal separation from God that is chosen
  • If given the chance of following Jesus, people that don't should face consequences. Matthew 25 (Parable of sheep + goats) states that "all nations will be gathered before him" - aligns with view of NT Wright (we're made imagio dei so shouldn't reject him)
• Hell is not eternal

  • Those that don't get to heaven are extinguished after punishment - Hume argued that a human can't do anything that justifies eternal punishment
  • Can't experience punishment in time, God won't provide it eternally. - Hick argued that eternal punishment is not compatible with omnibenevolence
  • God of love would not abide by the Augustinian view that babies go to Hell due to Original Sin as they are only eligible for particular judgement (Judgement at the moment of death) - Paul Tillich *Systematic Theology* - immoral for God to exclude his creatures, so "heaven and hell must be taken seriously as metaphors for the polar ultimates in the experience of the divine"
• Christian teaching on heaven

  • The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches the following:
  • 'Heaven is the ultimate end and fulfilment of the deepest human longings, the state of supreme, definitive happiness'.
  • Heaven is often represented as a place where an individual experiences absolute joy and happiness.
  • It is a place all Christians strive to end up.
• Jesus' description of heaven

  • In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus describes heaven as paradise whilst on the cross.
  • 'And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise." '(Luke 23:43)
  • Jesus also speaks about heaven to his disciples in the Gospel of John.
  • 'My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?' (John 14)
  • This implies that there is enough room in heaven for all of those who repent.
• Christian teaching on hell

  • The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches the following:
  • 'The teaching of the Church affirms the existence of hell and its eternity.'
  • Immediately after death, the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell.
  • Such individuals suffer the punishments of hell, an ‘eternal fire.’
  • 'The chief punishment of hell is eternal separation from God, in whom alone man can possess the life and happiness for which he was created and for which he longs.' (CCC 1035)
• Hell & eternal punishment

  • The idea of hell is that of a place of permanent, everlasting punishment.
  • The parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus has inspired Christians to think of it as a place of agonising torment:
  • 'The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side [Heaven]. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades [Hell], where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side.' (Luke 16)
• Christian teaching on purgatory

  • The definition of ‘purge’ is to clean or remove. Catholics believe purgatory is a stage of purification (also called purgation).
  • It is a place in which they will be cleansed of their sins.
  • The Catechism gives the reason for this purification as ‘to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.'(CCC 1030).
  • The word ‘purgatory’ is never explicitly mentioned in the Bible but is hinted to at points.
  • For example, in Corinthians 3:15 ‘He himself will be saved, but only as through fire’.
• Actual places

  • In this interpretation of the afterlife, heaven, hell and purgatory are actual places where a person may go after death.
  • In heaven, an individual experiences physical and emotional happiness.
  • In hell, an individual experiences punishment.
  • In purgatory, an individual experiences purification.
• Heaven as an actual place

  • Saint Thomas Aquinas spoke of heaven as a beatific vision.
  • He described it as the state of eternal happiness when we come face to face with God.
  • It is seen as a relationship of love, peace and joy, a time when those in heaven will live in perfect harmony and be at peace.
• Christians & heaven

  • Christians also believe that at the end of time, the dead will be resurrected as Jesus Christ was.
  • God will bring Christians back to life physically. So, Christians believe in a literal, physical resurrection.
  • It says in the Creed that: ‘We believe in the resurrection of the dead. And the life of the world to come.’
  • Jesus was raised from the dead in a physical body which could be touched and could eat food.
  • As such, the Blessed will physically rise from the dead.
• Hell as an actual place

  • The Biblical story of Lazarus and the rich man is a well-known parable of Jesus found in the Gospel of Luke.
  • Lazarus is a poor man who begged the rich man for help on numerous occasions. The rich man chose not to help Lazarus.
  • When the two men die, Lazarus ends up in heaven and the rich man ends up in hell.
  • 'The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side [Heaven]. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades [Hell], where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side.' (Luke 16)
• Quotes about hell

  • In the book of Revelation, the image is of a ‘burning lake of fiery sulphur’.
  • The Catechism quotes, ‘Immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into hell’.
• Purgatory as an actual place

  • Purgatory is seen to be a place of cleansing where people will have their sins forgiven.
  • Catholics on earth can pray for the sins of the deceased to be cleansed, in the hope they will end up in heaven.
  • In the Bible it states:
  • ‘The purification is necessary because, as Scripture teaches, nothing unclean will enter the presence of God in heaven.' (Rev. 21:27)
• Spiritual states

  • The Catholic Church teaches about the immortality of the soul.
  • This is the belief that after death our souls will either go to heaven, hell or purgatory.
  • The soul is often described as the non-physical essence of a person.
• Heaven as a spiritual state

  • Pope John Paul II was an advocate of heaven as a spiritual state.
  • He explains that trying to work out which senses, if any, would work in heaven seems ridiculous.
  • 'The 'heaven' or 'happiness' in which we will find ourselves is neither an abstraction nor a physical place in the clouds, but a living, personal relationship with the Holy Trinity. It is our meeting with the Father which takes place in the risen Christ through the communion of the Holy Spirit.'
• Papal infallibility

  • Pope John Paul II's view implies that it is absurd to discuss physical senses being used in an afterlife.
  • The pope is the leader of the Catholic Church and is seen to be infallible.
  • Infallibility belongs in a special way to the pope as head of the bishops (Matt. 16:17–19; John 21:15–17).
  • Papal infallibility is a doctrine that the pope cannot be wrong when teaching matters of faith or morality.
  • This is because the pope acts as the supreme teacher of Roman Catholic theology.
• Hell & purgatory as spiritual states

  • If heaven is to be interpreted as a spiritual place, so then must hell.
  • Under this interpretation, hell would be seen as alienation from God which is punishment enough.
  • Second Thessalonians 1:9 refers to hell as 'exclusion from the face of God.'
  • Under this interpretation, purgatory is seen as the continual mental struggle to achieve a state of perfection.
  • It is not a physical place where the soul is purified by fire.
• Symbolic purgatory

  • Dewi Zephaniah Phillips was an anti-realist about religious matters.
  • He did not believe in the actual existence of God.
  • Phillips would see purgatory in the same way.
  • He would argue purgatory is a symbol of our difficult mental struggle to be perfect.
  • But this relates to our struggle in this life, not in an afterlife for which there is no physical proof.
• Limited election

  • The doctrine of limitation arises from the belief God is omniscient.
  • This is the belief that God is all-knowing, so nothing is unknown to God.
  • He knows where we will end up after death.
  • St. Augustine and John Calvin were both proponents of the idea of limited election.
  • St. Augustine originally taught the idea.