Death and the Afterlife

What type of place is it

Physical

Dante's Divine Comedy 1308-1320

Revelations 21: He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length

Metaphorical?

Who even is John?

Christ is "The first fruits of those who have fallen asleep"

Spiritual

Beatific vision

"See Him as He is"

Must be outside time

Criticism

Overcrowding

William Lane Craig: infinite time is absurd

Eternal Tedium (Bernard Williams)

Bodies damaged in Hell

Augustine: Salamander is immune to fire, God makes us immune

John Hick, 'Full Content of God'

Atemporal

CA: Punishment must be in time?

CA: Purgatory must be in time?

Hell is "Eternal separation from God"

Metaphor

Rudolf Bultmann: "Repeatedly present"

Historic/Historical bible

Historic is mythological, should be interpreted as a metaphor for life

Historical is factural, should not be interpreted

St Catherine of Genoa: purgatory is inner "purifying fire"

Purgatory

Catechism

How can be with a transcendant God?

CA: Kenosis?

Little biblical evidence

As requires temporality must be physical

Sheep & Goats: "eternal pusishment" and "eternal life" exhaustive?

John Hick: We cannot obtain the 'full content of God' in this life, so need further soul-making in the afterlife

When is Judgement?

Parousia/Second Coming

Nicene creed

CA: "I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise"

CA: Rich man & Lazarus

"No-one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven"

Eternity

Infinite punishment/reward for finite crime/goodness?

Aquinas: is always in relation to an infinite God

CA: theft=Hitler?

Election

Limited Election (Limited Attonement)

Preserve's God's qualities

Omnipotence

Omniscience

Necessary being

Single/Double predestination

Augustine & Calvin are double

Augustine: we are so flawed that we do not deserve salvation without Grace

Calvin: "All are not created on equal terms"

Jesus' death undeserved

God preordains people with grace

Infers that they will be Christian (does not infer other way)

Grace is required for faith

God's will is hidden (Voluntas abscondita)

God's sovereignty is protected

Humans have no power over God's will

Unlimited Election (Unlimited Attonement)

Universalism

Living God who is the saviour of all people, especially of those who believe

Karl Barth: Double predestination is a SCANDAL!

CA: Free will

CA: omnibenevolence

We are all sinners

God elects himself in Christ to be reprobate

Christ takes our place as the reprobate

"There is no condemnation - literally none - for those that are in Jesus Christ"

Hick: We must move from the 'image' to the 'likeness' of God

This requires evil & time after death - hence purgatory & heaven

Cardinal Ratzinger: What is the significance of Christ?

Hick argues he is a 'gift to the world' as a teacher of wisdom (but no more)