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BELIEF
IN THE RESURRECTION AND
THE AFTERLIFE
IS
UNIVERSAL
Eschatalogy
is the branch of
systematic theology that
deals with the doctrines
of the last things (ta
eschata). Although
the Greek title is a
comparatively recent
introduction, it has
largely supplanted its
Latin equivalent De
Novissimis in modern
usage.
As
a first step, a
distinction may be made
between the eschatology
of the individual and
that of the race and the
universe at large. The
former, setting out from
the doctrine of personal
immortality, or at least
of survival in some form
after death, seeks to
ascertain the temporary
or eternal fate or
condition of individual
souls, and the extent of
the present life’s
influence on the future
life. The latter deals
with events like the
Resurrection and final
judgment, and with the
signs and portents in
the moral and physical
orders that are to
precede and accompany
those events. Both
aspects belong to the
usual concept of
eschatology.
Belief
in afterlife in
non-Islamic societies
The
universality of
religious beliefs,
including some kind of
existence after death,
is generally admitted by
modern anthropologists.
Some exceptions have
been claimed to exist;
but on closer scrutiny
the provided evidence
breaks down in so many
cases that we can say
that there are no
exceptions. Among
ancient peoples, the
truth and purity of
eschatological beliefs
vary with the purity of
the idea of God and
prevailing moral
standards. Some early
peoples seem to limit
existence after death to
the good (with
extinction for the
wicked), as the
Nicaraguas, or to men of
rank, as the Tongas;
while the various
peoples of Greenland,
New Guinea, and others
seem to hold the
possibility of a second
death in the other world
or on the way to it.
For
the Aztecs,
Determining factors
for a person’s destiny
in the next existence
were social position and
the circumstances of
death. We do not hear of
any retribution after
death based on one’s
conduct during this
life. This might have
been expected, since the
confession of sins and
penance, for example in
the form of asceticism
or temple service, were
common. Perhaps they
were important only for
happiness and success in
this world.
According
to Landa’s research,
the Mayans
had a paradise with its
delights, including an
abundance of food and
drink in the shadow of
the holy tree. They also
had Mitnal, a
subterranean hell for
the wicked and evil
where hunger, cold, and
sorrow torment the
unfortunate inhabitants.
The “death god”
Hunhau presides over
this gloomy world.
Little is known about
the ruler of the
paradise.
The
Incas
believed that if
sinners did not make a
full confession, they
fared badly. Not only
would they be stricken
with the wrath of the
powers in this life but
after death, they also
would starve and freeze
in a place deep in the
Earth’s interior where
their only food would be
stories. Those who led
virtuous lives and
confessed their sins, if
any, would lead a happy
existence with an
abundance of food and
drink in the sun god’s
heaven. Members of the
aristocracy, intended
for a higher world,
ended up there
regardless of how they
lived.
Now,
coming to the more
advanced societies, we
shall glance briefly at
the eschatologies of
Babylonia and Assyria,
Egypt, India, Persia,
Greece, and of Judaism
and Christianity.
Babylonia
and Assyria.
In the ancient
Babylonian religion,
with which the Assyrian
is substantially
identical, retribution
seems to be mostly
confined to the present
life. Virtue is rewarded
by the Divine bestowal
of strength, prosperity,
long life, numerous
offspring, and the like,
and wickedness is
punished by temporal
calamities. As for the
afterlife, it was
believed that a kind of
semi-material ghost,
shade, or double
survived physical death.
When the body was buried
(or, less commonly,
cremated), the ghost
descended to the
underworld to join the
departed.
This
ancient religion
suggests a brighter hope
in the form of a
resurrection, which some
infer from the belief in
the “waters of life”
and from references to
Marduk (or Merodach) as
“one who brings the
dead to life.”
Egypt.
Ancient Egyptian
religion has a highly
developed and
comparatively elevated
eschatology. Leaving
aside some conflicting
elements, we will refer
to what is most
prominent in its
eschatology taken at its
highest and best. Pious
Egyptians looked forward
to life in its fullness,
unending life with the
sun god Osiris (who
journeys daily through
the underworld), and
even identification with
him and the subsequent
right to be called by
his name, as the
ultimate goal after
death. The departed are
habitually called the
“living,” the coffin
is the “chest of the
living,” and the tomb
is the “lord of life.”
It
is not merely the
disembodied spirit that
continues to live, but
the soul with certain
bodily organs and
functions suited to the
new life’s conditions.
In the elaborate
anthropology underlying
Egyptian eschatology,
several constituents of
the individual are
distinguished. The most
important is the ka,
a kind of semi-material
double. Those who pass
the judgment after death
have the use of these
several constituents,
separated by death,
restored.
Egyptians
believed that every
person was composed of
three essential
elements: body, ba
(the sum total of all
non-physical things that
make a person unique)
and ka (life-force).
At
death, the ba and
ka became
separated from the body,
although they did not
die. In the New Kingdom
(post-1570 B.C.) period
and after, this
separation was effected
through the Opening of
the Mouth ritual, in
which the ba and ka
are released to go to
the next world.
Egyptians
believed that death was
the end of physical life
in this world. But, it
also was through death
that one could be
renewed and live an
eternal life free of
such physical
limitations as age or
poverty, just as the
once-mortal god Osiris
had. One’s renewal
didn’t come about
here, though, but in “Nun,”
the mysterious
underworld of primeval
waters that was separate
from this world. One
could not see it or get
to it by normal means;
the only ways were
through imagination and
knowledge of the sun’s
path.
India.
In the Vedas, the
earliest historical form
of Indian religion,
eschatological belief is
simpler and purer than
in the Brahministic and
Buddhist forms that
succeeded it. Individual
immortality is clearly
taught. There is a
kingdom of the dead
ruled by Yama, with
distinct realms for the
good and the wicked. The
good dwell in a realm of
light and share in the
gods’ feasts; the
wicked are banished to a
place of “nethermost
darkness.”
In
Brahminism, retribution
gains in prominence and
severity. However, it
becomes hopelessly
involved in
transmigration, and is
made more dependent
either on sacrificial
observances or
theosophical knowledge.
Though there are
numerous heavens and
hells for the reward and
punishment of every
degree of merit and
demerit, these are not
final states, but only
preludes to further
rebirths in higher or
lower forms.
Buddhism.
Buddhism (Sanskrit:
“enlightened one”)
was founded in India by
Siddharta Gautama Buddha
(ca. 563-ca. 483 B.C.)
Under the Bodhi tree
(the tree of
enlightenment), Prince
Gautama became
enlightened about the
four basic truths:
-
Human
existence is pain
-
The
cause of pain is
desire
-
Pain
ceases with the
emancipation from
desire
-
The
cessation of pain
may be attained
through the
eightfold way of
deliverance.
This
way involves right
knowledge of these four
truths, right intention,
right speech, right
action, right
occupation, right
effort, right control of
sensations and ideas,
and right concentration.
This way promises to end
suffering (which feeds
on desire) and lead to
Nirvana (Sanskrit: “being
extinguished”) or a
complete state of peace.
The Buddhist scriptures
exist in Pali (Sri
Lanka) and Sanskrit
(India).
Two
basic doctrines are
karma (Sanskrit: “action,
faith”), the belief
that old deeds are
rewarded or punished in
this or subsequent
lives, and rebirth or
the transmigration of
souls. Mahayana
Buddhism, which arose
around the time of
Christ, teaches that
individuals can attain
Nirvana and also can
become Buddhas in order
to save others.
Buddhism, which includes
the worship of gods and
various syncretistic
features, has two forms:
Hinayana (Sanskrit: “little
vehicle”) or Theravada
(Pali: “old doctrine”)
Buddhism (found in
Burma, Sri Lanka,
Thailand, and
elsewhere), and Mahayana
(Sanskrit: “great
vehicle”) Buddhism
(found in China, Japan,
Korea, Mongolia, Tibet,
and elsewhere). Mahayana
Buddhists believe that
the right path of a
follower will lead to
the redemption of all
human beings. Hinayana
Buddhists believe that
each person is
responsible for his or
her own fate. Along with
these doctrines, there
are other Buddhist
beliefs like Zen
Buddhism (Japan) and the
Hindu Tantric Buddhism
(Tibet). Zen Buddhism is
a mixture of Buddhism as
it arrived from India
and original Japanese
beliefs. Hindu Tantric
Buddhism is a mixture of
Indian Buddhism and
original pre-Buddhist
Tibetan beliefs such as
magic, ghosts and
tantras (mystical
sentences).
Hinduism.
Dr. Arnold J.
Toynbee points out in A
Study of History
that the principal
civilizations placed
different degrees of
emphasis on specific
lines of activity. Greek
civilization, for
instance, displays a
manifest tendency toward
a prominently aesthetic
outlook on life as a
whole. Indian
civilization, on the
other hand, shows an
equally manifest
tendency toward a
predominantly religious
outlook. Toynbee’s
remark sums up what has
been observed by many
other scholars. Indeed,
the study of Hinduism
has to be, in large
measure, a study of the
general Hindu outlook on
life.
With
respect to life, death,
and life after death,
the inseparable unity of
the material and
spiritual worlds forms
the foundation of Indian
culture and determines
the whole character of
Indian social ideals.
Every individual life,
whether mineral,
vegetable, animal, or
human, has a beginning
and an end. This
creation and
destruction, appearance
and disappearance, are
of the essence of the
world process and
equally originate in the
past, present, and
future. According to
this view, then, every
individual ego (jivatman)
or separate expression
of the general will to
life (icchatrsna)
must be regarded as
having reached a certain
stage of its own cycle.
The
Upanisads,
the most famous and
widely accepted Hindu
texts, recognize
intuition rather than
reason as a path to
ultimate truth. They are
supposed to be 108 or
more in number. Twelve
are generally recognized
as the principal units.
The Isa Upanisad
begins with the
statement that whatever
exists in this world is
enveloped by the
Supreme. The soul is
saved by renunciation
and the absence of
possessiveness.
The
Bhagavad Gita,
a main source of Hindu
belief and philosophy,
contains the essence of
Hindu teaching about the
duties of life as well
as of spiritual
obligations. Everyone
has their allotted
duties. Sin arises not
from the nature of the
work itself, but from
the disposition with
which the work is
performed. When it is
performed without
attachment to the
result, it cannot
tarnish the soul and
impede its quest. True
Yoga consists in
acquiring experience and
passing through life in
harmony with the
ultimate laws of
equanimity,
non-attachment to the
fruits of action, and
faith in the Supreme
Spirit’s
pervasiveness. As
absorption in that
Spirit can be attained
along several paths, no
path is to be
exclusively preferred or
disdained. These
doctrines have been
interpreted as marking a
Protestant movement that
stresses the personality
of God and His
accessibility to
devotion. While
following the Hindu
ideal of the Asramas the
Gita emphasizes
the importance of
knowledge, charity,
penance, and worship,
and does not decry life
as evil.
Persia.
Zoroastrianism, the
indigenous religion of
pre-Islamic Persia, was
founded by Prophet
Zarathushtra (d. 551
BC), known to the Greeks
as Zoroaster.
Zoroastrianism was the
dominant regional
religion during the
Persian empires (559 BC
to 651 CE), and was thus
the most powerful
religion at the time of
Jesus. It had a major
influence on other
religions, and is still
practiced today,
especially in Iran and
India.
According
to Mary Boyce, Zoroaster
believed that God had
entrusted him with a
message for humanity. He
preached in plain words
to ordinary people. His
teachings were handed
down orally from
generation to
generation, and were
committed to writing
under the Sassanids,
rulers of the third
Iranian empire (c.224
CE-c.640 CE). The
language of that time
was Middle Persian, also
called Pahlavi. The
Pahlavi books provide
valuable keys for
interpreting the
obscurities of the
Gathas or the hymns of
Zarathustra themselves.
A
journeying to Heaven and
Hell. Arda
Viraf was an important
scholar of
Zoroastrianism. His
book, contained in The
Sacred Books and Early
Literature of the East,
Volume VII: Ancient
Persia, narrates a
vision of Heaven and
Hell that he claimed to
have seen in an inspired
dream or vision. The
entire vision is truly
Dantesque. We do not
know its age, but we can
say confidently that it
is several centuries
older than the work of
Dante.
Greece.
Greek eschatology,
as reflected in the
Homeric poems, remains
at a low level. Life on
Earth, for all its
shortcomings, is the
highest good for people,
and death the worst
evil. Yet death is not
extinction. The psyche
survives, not the purely
spiritual soul of later
Greek and Christian
thought, but an
attenuated,
semi-material ghost,
shade, or image, of the
earthly person. The life
of this shade in the
underworld is a dull,
impoverished, almost
functionless existence.
In
later Greek thought on
the future life, there
are notable advances
beyond the Homeric
state, but it is
doubtful whether the
average popular faith
ever reached a much
higher level. Among
early philosophers
Anaxagoras (d. c.428 BC)
contributes to the
notion of a purely
spiritual soul. A more
directly religious
contribution is made by
the Eleusinian and
Orphic mysteries, to the
influence of which in
brightening and
moralizing the hope of a
future life we have the
concurrent witness of
philosophers, poets, and
historians. With the
Orphic, the divine
origin and pre-existence
of the soul, for which
the body is but a
temporary prison, and
the doctrine of a
retributive
transmigration are more
or less closely
associated. It is hard
to see how far the
common belief of the
people was influenced by
these mysteries, but in
poetical and
philosophical literature
their influence is
unmistakable. This is
seen especially in
Pindar (d. c.438 BC)
among the poets, and in
Plato (d. 348 or 347 BC)
among the philosophers.
Pindar
has a definite promise
of a future life of
bliss for the good or
the initiated-not merely
for a few, but for all.
Even the wicked who
descend to Hades have
hope. Having purged
their wickedness they
obtain rebirth on earth,
and if, during three
successive lives they
prove themselves worthy
of the boon, they will
finally attain happiness
in the Isles of the
Blest. In Plato’s
teaching, the divine
dignity, spirituality,
and essential
immortality of the soul
being established,
issues of the future for
every soul are made
clearly dependent on its
moral conduct in the
present life. There is a
divine judgment after
death, a heaven, a hell,
and an intermediate
state for penance and
purification. Rewards
and punishments are
graduated according to
the merits and demerits
of each. The incurably
wicked are condemned to
everlasting punishment
in Tartarus; the less
wicked or indifferent
also go to Tartarus or
to the Acherusian Lake,
but only for a time.
Those eminent for
goodness go to a happy
home, the highest reward
of all being for those
who have purified
themselves by
philosophy.
Judaism
and Christianity
As
for the Judaic and
Christian traditions,
without going into
details, it will be
sufficient to mention
the basic features of
Old Testament
eschatology:
Old
Testament eschatology,
even in its earliest
form, shares in the
distinctive character of
Old Testament religion
generally. First, there
are none of the
erroneous ideas and
tendencies that have a
large place in ethnic
religions. There is no
pantheism, dualism,
metempsychosis, or trace
of Egyptian religious
ideas or practices. It
also stands apart from
ethnic religions in its
doctrine of God and of
humanity in relation to
God. Its doctrine of God
is pure and
uncompromising
monotheism. The universe
is ruled by the Wisdom,
Justice, and Omnipotence
of the one, true God.
And humanity is created
by God in His own image
and likeness, and
destined for relations
of friendship and
fellowship with Him.
The
Old Testament contains a
national eschatology
centered on the hope of
establishing a
theocratic and Messianic
kingdom on Earth.
However spiritually this
idea may be expressed in
the prophecies, the Jews
mostly clung to a
material and political
interpretation of the
kingdom, coupling their
own domination with the
triumph of God and the
worldwide establishment
of His rule. There is
much, indeed, to account
for this in the
obscurity of the
prophecies themselves.
However, the Messiah as
a distinct person is not
always mentioned in
connection with the
kingdom’s
inauguration. This
leaves room for the
expectation of a
theophany of Yahweh
(Jehovah) in the
character of judge and
ruler. Even when the
Messiah’s person and
place are distinctly
foreshadowed, the fusion
together in prophecy of
what we have learned to
distinguish as his first
and his second coming
tends to give an
eschatological character
to the whole picture of
the Messianic kingdom,
when in reality it
belongs only to its
final stage. It is in
such a way that the
resurrection of the dead
is introduced in Isaiah
26:19: “But your dead
will live; their bodies
will rise. You who dwell
in the dust, wake up and
shout for joy. Your dew
is the like of the dew
of the morning; the
earth will give birth to
her dead,” and Daniel
12:2: “Multitudes who
sleep in the dust of the
earth will awake: some
to everlasting life,
others to shame and
everlasting contempt.”
In
the Psalms and the Book
of Job, we find a clear
expression of hope or
assurance that just
people will attain a
life of blessedness
after death. Here is
voiced, under Divine
inspiration, the innate
craving of the righteous
soul for everlasting
fellowship with God, the
protest of a strong and
vivid faith against the
popular conception of
Sheol. Omitting doubtful
passages, it is enough
to refer to Psalms 16,
17, 49, 50, and 73,
which are clear enough
to see that the good and
pious will be eternally
rewarded in another
life, while the wicked
and unjust be punished.
The
same faith emerges in
the Book of Job,
first as a somewhat
questionably expressed
hope, and then as an
assured conviction: “If
only You would hide me
in the grave and conceal
me till Your anger has
passed! If only You
would set me a time and
then remember me! If a
man dies, will he live
again? All the days of
my hard service I will
wait for my renewal to
come. You will call and
I will answer You; You
will long for the
creature Your hands have
made” (14:13-14). The
hope gradually becomes
more absolute and, in
19:23-27, it takes the
form of a definite
certainty that he will
see God, his Redeemer:
“I know that my
Redeemer lives and that
in the end He will stand
upon the earth [dust].
And after my skin has
been destroyed, yet in
my flesh I will see God;
I myself will see Him
with my own eyes-I, and
not another. How my
heart yearns within me!”
As can be explicitly
seen from all these
quoted verses, the
doctrine of Resurrection
finds definite
expression in subsequent
revelations. It is
clearly a personal
resurrection that is
taught.
Jewish
apocryphal literature of
the second and first
centuries BC contains
new eschatological
developments, mainly
concerned with a more
definite doctrine of
retribution after death.
The word Sheol is
still most commonly
understood as the
general abode of the
departed awaiting the
resurrection, an abode
having different
divisions for the reward
of the righteous and the
punishment of the
wicked. In reference to
the latter, Sheol is
sometimes simply
equivalent to Hell. The
word Gehenna is
usually applied to the
final place of
punishment of the wicked
after the last judgment,
or even immediately
after death; paradise
is often used to
designate the
intermediate abode of
the souls of the just,
and heaven their
home of final
blessedness. Christ’s
use of these terms shows
that the Jews of his day
were sufficiently
familiar with their New
Testament meanings.
Eschatology
in the New Testament.
A
particular judgment of
each soul takes place at
death is implied in many
New Testament passages
(Luke 16:22 sqq., 23:43;
Acts 1:25; etc.), and in
the teaching of the
Council of Florence
regarding the speedy
entry of each soul into
heaven, purgatory, or
hell.
Heaven:
Heaven is the abode of
the blessed, where
(after the resurrection
with glorified bodies)
they will enjoy, in the
company of Christ and
the angels, the
immediate vision of God
face to face, being
supernaturally elevated
by the light of glory to
experience such a
vision. There are
infinite degrees of
glory corresponding to
degrees of merit, but
all are unspeakably
happy in the eternal
possession of God.
Purgatory:
Purgatory is the
intermediate state of
unknown duration in
which those who die
imperfect, but not
unrepentant of mortal
sin, undergo
purification to qualify
for admission into
heaven. They share in
the communion of saints
and are benefited by our
prayers and good works.
Hell:
In Catholic teaching,
Hell designates the
place or state of human
beings (and angels) who,
because of sin, are
excluded forever from
the Beatific Vision.
Beyond affirming the
existence of such a
state, with varying
degrees of punishment
corresponding to degrees
of guilt and its eternal
duration, Catholic
doctrine does not go. It
is a terrible and
mysterious truth, but it
is clearly and
emphatically taught by
Christ and the Apostles.
Rationalists may deny
its eternity, despite
the authority of Christ,
and those professing
Christians unwilling to
admit it may try to
explain away Christ’s
words. However,
according to Catholic
teaching, it remains the
Divinely revealed
solution to the problem
of moral evil. The
restitutionist view,
which in its Origenist
form was condemned at
the Council of
Constantinople in 543
and later at the Fifth
General Council, is the
cardinal dogma of modern
Universalism and is
favored more or less by
liberal Protestants and
Anglicans.
Annihilationists, on the
other hand, believe that
the finally impenitent
will be annihilated or
cease to exist.
The
Resurrection of the
body: Catholic teaching
states that all the dead
who are to be judged
will rise with the
bodies they had in this
life. But nothing is
defined as to what is
required to constitute
this identity of the
risen and transformed
with the present body.
Though not formally
defined, it is
sufficiently certain
that there is to be only
one general
resurrection,
simultaneous for the
good and the bad.
The
consummation of all
things: There
is mention also of the
physical universe
sharing in the general
consummation (II Peter
3:13; Romans 8:19
sqq). The present Heaven
and Earth will be
destroyed, and a new
Heaven and Earth take
their place. But what
precisely this process
will involve, or what
purpose the renovated
world will serve, are
not revealed.
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