Eschatology - Beliefs about death and afterlife
Introduction
The human experience of death has always had a place in religious belief systems. In Roman Catholicism this topic is part of the study of eschatology (the last things). For all Christians, so for Roman Catholics, the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth points to belief in the afterlife in the fullness of the kingdom of God. In Roman Catholicism there has been a reinterpretation of this belief in life after death and its implications for people of faith. This development was crystalised in the documents of the Second Vatican Council and emphasised in its aftermath.
Vatican II
The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosactum Concilium proposes that Jesus is central when considering the ceremonies and so beliefs surrounding death. “The rite for the burial of the dead should evidence more clearly the paschal character of Christian death…” SC 81. Jesus’ parables of the kingdom and Jesus’ identity as the paschal mystery (John 1: 29) offers a hopeful approach in which death is not the final word and resurrection hope predominates. The council avoided the dualistic use of categories found in the eschatology of the pervious era. No more emphasis on the saved and unsaved, and exclusive approaches to the kingdom of God. The doctrine of “no salvation outside the Church” was not seen in the council documents. Instead, the mystery of death and afterlife was emphasised using biblical approaches to the kingdom of God. This in turn allowed for an inclusive framework that gave permission for Catholics to dialogue with the world as well as a rehabilitation of the prayer regime around funerals.
Resurrection faith is secured by the magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church. The Magisterium is responsible for maintaining consistency in the Catholic Tradition. By the term, magisterium (magister is Latin for teacher) is meant the church’s official teaching office. It consists of the Pope and bishops. The role of the magisterium is to maintain the consistency between the lex orandi (law of prayer) and lex credendi (law of faith). It does this through papal teaching, documents from ecumenical councils and from synods of bishops and the Curia, the Roman Congregations at the service of the papacy. This documentation of Catholic belief includes the Roman Missal and other Liturgical Documents, the Code of Canon Law and the Catechism of the Catholic Church and its Compendium.
Despite this reemphasis based in the earliest Church writing it is undeniable that the belief in resurrection and eternal life has found expression across the Christian millennia. The reasons for this include honouring the past, motivation of the faith of current adherents and for the future hope of the Church.
Honouring the Past
The record is to be found in both scripture and tradition. In the texts that are sacred for all Christians, Catholics find their belief in the resurrection of the dead and in the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God was the central concern of Jesus. His preaching, in parables, points to a kingdom or reign of God that has entered history, a reign that offers hope and salvation for all. Parables like the mustard seed (Mark 4:30-32), the banquet (Matthew 22:1-14) and the sower (Matthew 13:1-23, Mark 4:1-20, and Luke 8:4-15) speak in earthy terms of a hope for a better world in a return to faith. The kingdom to which Jesus refers is sought in the present for those who have eyes to see and the kingdom is also to be hoped for. The first Christians would find the greatest expression of that hope in Jesus’ resurrection. Early references to belief in the resurrection of Christ can be found in Paul’s second letter to Timothy: “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God's word is not chained.” 2 Timothy 2: 8-9. Paul also affirms resurrection faith for the Corinthian Christians “If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.” 1 Corinthians 15: 13.
These beliefs are also acknowledged through tradition. It is a feature of Creedal statements such as the Nicene Creed (resurrection of the dead and life of the world to come) and the Apostles’ Creed (resurrection of the body and life everlasting). It is found in scholastic theology such as in the Summa of Thomas Aquinas, who wrote of four last things: death; judgement; heaven and hell. Dante Aligheri’s Italian epic Divino Comedia (Divine Comedy) brought imagination to Thomistic eschatology and coloured Christian imagination of the afterlife with fear of death, judgement and hell that would impact popular piety for centuries, ultimately leading to reformation and religious content of many wars.
Motivating Current Adherents
This resurrection faith continues to animate Christian life in prayer and practice in the present day. The liturgical focus of the paschal mystery in the sacramental life of Roman Catholics is central to the life of faith lived in the shadow of the cross with the hope of new life in Christ. The Second Eucharistic prayer puts it this way: “Remember also our brothers and sisters who have fallen asleep in the hope of the resurrection, and all who have died in your mercy. Welcome them into the light of your face.” Roman Missal Eucharistic Prayer 2. The paschal mystery is a technical phrase that refers to the significance of Jesus death and resurrection and is effect in the lives of present believers, who with St Paul, claim to carry this imprint in their hearts and action. Faith in the kingdom has an ethical response in Roman Catholicism. Action for social justice and the preferential option for the poor are significant elements of Catholic life and for the basis of its social teaching. Roman Catholics see God’s kingdom is about inclusion, participation, human rights and the common good of all members of the global society.
Future Hope
The future hope of Roman Catholics is animated by resurrection faith. The belief in the communion of saints, a unity of faith in this life and the next, offers focus the future thinking of Roman Catholics. Lumen Gentium teaches that the Church consists of those baptised who live here on earth, those that have died but who do not yet have the full vision of the divine glory of God, and those who behold the vision of God as God is and are dwelling in His presence (LG 49). Catholics believe that we should remember the dead and pray for them because, as Scripture teaches, “it is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead that they may be loosed from their sins” (2 Maccabees 12:46). Prayers are included for them in every Eucharist and as well as commemorating them especially on anniversaries and in November. The Roman curia, since Vatican II and particular since the pontificate of John Paul II, has been using the cult of the saints, the sacred stories of the heroes of faith, to strengthen resurrection hope. With many beatifications and canonizations in recent times, the Church is constantly reminding the faithful that a life lived in Christ is both work for the kingdom of God and has its reward in the beatific vision of seeing God face to face. It is a focus on the eschatological future of the individual that is never removed from a community of belonging and the fellowship of worship.
The human experience of death has always had a place in religious belief systems. In Roman Catholicism this topic is part of the study of eschatology (the last things). For all Christians, so for Roman Catholics, the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth points to belief in the afterlife in the fullness of the kingdom of God. In Roman Catholicism there has been a reinterpretation of this belief in life after death and its implications for people of faith. This development was crystalised in the documents of the Second Vatican Council and emphasised in its aftermath.
Vatican II
The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosactum Concilium proposes that Jesus is central when considering the ceremonies and so beliefs surrounding death. “The rite for the burial of the dead should evidence more clearly the paschal character of Christian death…” SC 81. Jesus’ parables of the kingdom and Jesus’ identity as the paschal mystery (John 1: 29) offers a hopeful approach in which death is not the final word and resurrection hope predominates. The council avoided the dualistic use of categories found in the eschatology of the pervious era. No more emphasis on the saved and unsaved, and exclusive approaches to the kingdom of God. The doctrine of “no salvation outside the Church” was not seen in the council documents. Instead, the mystery of death and afterlife was emphasised using biblical approaches to the kingdom of God. This in turn allowed for an inclusive framework that gave permission for Catholics to dialogue with the world as well as a rehabilitation of the prayer regime around funerals.
Resurrection faith is secured by the magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church. The Magisterium is responsible for maintaining consistency in the Catholic Tradition. By the term, magisterium (magister is Latin for teacher) is meant the church’s official teaching office. It consists of the Pope and bishops. The role of the magisterium is to maintain the consistency between the lex orandi (law of prayer) and lex credendi (law of faith). It does this through papal teaching, documents from ecumenical councils and from synods of bishops and the Curia, the Roman Congregations at the service of the papacy. This documentation of Catholic belief includes the Roman Missal and other Liturgical Documents, the Code of Canon Law and the Catechism of the Catholic Church and its Compendium.
Despite this reemphasis based in the earliest Church writing it is undeniable that the belief in resurrection and eternal life has found expression across the Christian millennia. The reasons for this include honouring the past, motivation of the faith of current adherents and for the future hope of the Church.
Honouring the Past
The record is to be found in both scripture and tradition. In the texts that are sacred for all Christians, Catholics find their belief in the resurrection of the dead and in the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God was the central concern of Jesus. His preaching, in parables, points to a kingdom or reign of God that has entered history, a reign that offers hope and salvation for all. Parables like the mustard seed (Mark 4:30-32), the banquet (Matthew 22:1-14) and the sower (Matthew 13:1-23, Mark 4:1-20, and Luke 8:4-15) speak in earthy terms of a hope for a better world in a return to faith. The kingdom to which Jesus refers is sought in the present for those who have eyes to see and the kingdom is also to be hoped for. The first Christians would find the greatest expression of that hope in Jesus’ resurrection. Early references to belief in the resurrection of Christ can be found in Paul’s second letter to Timothy: “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God's word is not chained.” 2 Timothy 2: 8-9. Paul also affirms resurrection faith for the Corinthian Christians “If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.” 1 Corinthians 15: 13.
These beliefs are also acknowledged through tradition. It is a feature of Creedal statements such as the Nicene Creed (resurrection of the dead and life of the world to come) and the Apostles’ Creed (resurrection of the body and life everlasting). It is found in scholastic theology such as in the Summa of Thomas Aquinas, who wrote of four last things: death; judgement; heaven and hell. Dante Aligheri’s Italian epic Divino Comedia (Divine Comedy) brought imagination to Thomistic eschatology and coloured Christian imagination of the afterlife with fear of death, judgement and hell that would impact popular piety for centuries, ultimately leading to reformation and religious content of many wars.
Motivating Current Adherents
This resurrection faith continues to animate Christian life in prayer and practice in the present day. The liturgical focus of the paschal mystery in the sacramental life of Roman Catholics is central to the life of faith lived in the shadow of the cross with the hope of new life in Christ. The Second Eucharistic prayer puts it this way: “Remember also our brothers and sisters who have fallen asleep in the hope of the resurrection, and all who have died in your mercy. Welcome them into the light of your face.” Roman Missal Eucharistic Prayer 2. The paschal mystery is a technical phrase that refers to the significance of Jesus death and resurrection and is effect in the lives of present believers, who with St Paul, claim to carry this imprint in their hearts and action. Faith in the kingdom has an ethical response in Roman Catholicism. Action for social justice and the preferential option for the poor are significant elements of Catholic life and for the basis of its social teaching. Roman Catholics see God’s kingdom is about inclusion, participation, human rights and the common good of all members of the global society.
Future Hope
The future hope of Roman Catholics is animated by resurrection faith. The belief in the communion of saints, a unity of faith in this life and the next, offers focus the future thinking of Roman Catholics. Lumen Gentium teaches that the Church consists of those baptised who live here on earth, those that have died but who do not yet have the full vision of the divine glory of God, and those who behold the vision of God as God is and are dwelling in His presence (LG 49). Catholics believe that we should remember the dead and pray for them because, as Scripture teaches, “it is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead that they may be loosed from their sins” (2 Maccabees 12:46). Prayers are included for them in every Eucharist and as well as commemorating them especially on anniversaries and in November. The Roman curia, since Vatican II and particular since the pontificate of John Paul II, has been using the cult of the saints, the sacred stories of the heroes of faith, to strengthen resurrection hope. With many beatifications and canonizations in recent times, the Church is constantly reminding the faithful that a life lived in Christ is both work for the kingdom of God and has its reward in the beatific vision of seeing God face to face. It is a focus on the eschatological future of the individual that is never removed from a community of belonging and the fellowship of worship.
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