Life after Death: A New Approach to the Last Things - Softcover

Thiselton, Anthony C.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0802866654 ISBN 13: 9780802866653

Verlag: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2011

Inhaltsangabe

Writing in the wake of a near-fatal stroke, eminent theologian Anthony C. Thiselton addresses a universally significant topic: death and what comes next. This distinctive study of "the last things" comprehensively explores questions about individual death, the intermediate state, the return of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, hell, the final state of the redeemed, and more. At once scholarly and pastoral, Thiselton's Life after Death offers biblically astute, historically informed, and intellectually sound answers -- making this book an invaluable resource for thinking Christians.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Anthony C. Thiselton (1937-2023) was professor of Christian theology at the University of Nottingham, England. His many books include A Shorter Guide to the Holy Spirit, Systematic Theology, and Life after Death: A New Approach to the Last Things.

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LIFE AFTER DEATH

A New Approach to the Last ThingsBy Anthony C. Thiselton

William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company

Copyright © 2012 Anthony C. Thiselton
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-8028-6665-3

Contents

Acknowledgments................................................................................................................ixAbbreviations..................................................................................................................xIntroduction: A New Approach...................................................................................................xii1. Death, Dying, and the Meaning of Life.......................................................................................12. Things Not Seen.............................................................................................................163. The Sacraments, the Covenant, and the Bible: Completing the Argument for Doubters...........................................344. Waiting and Expecting.......................................................................................................535. Two Apparent Problems: The Intermediate State or Immediately with Christ? Will There Be a "Millennium"?.....................686. The Return of Christ........................................................................................................897. The Resurrection of the Dead................................................................................................1118. Is Holiness Given at Once in the Resurrection, or Gradually in Purgatory? What Does "Eternal" Mean?.........................1299. Claims about "Hell" and Wrath...............................................................................................14510. The Last Judgment and Justification by Grace through Faith.................................................................16611. The Beatific Vision of God: From Glory to Glory — The Final State of the Redeemed....................................18512. The Beatific Vision and Trinitarian Work of God: More on the Final State of the Redeemed...................................204Bibliography...................................................................................................................216Index of Subjects..............................................................................................................229Index of Names.................................................................................................................234Index of Biblical References...................................................................................................243

Chapter One

Death, Dying, and the Meaning of Life

Geoffrey Rowell represents a widespread view, declaring, "Heaven, hell, death and judgement, are the traditional Four Last Things of Christian theology." If this is correct, we must certainly include chapters on the four themes mentioned under this title, and popularly they probably remain the subjects of most concern. Nevertheless, J. A. T. Robinson declares, "The interest of the modern man [or woman] in Christian eschatology, if he has any interest at all, centres on the fact and moment of death. He wants to know whether he will survive it, and in what form.... In the New Testament, on the other hand, the point round which hope and interest revolve is not the moment of death, but the day ... of the appearance of Christ in ... glory ... [and] the doctrine of resurrection." The main focus in the New Testament and in this book, therefore, lies not chiefly in the experience of the individual, but on the last great cosmic acts of God, namely, the Return of Christ (often called after the Greek term the Parousia), the Last Judgment, and the resurrection of the dead, as well as what follows these "Last Things."

For this reason, the first draft of this book included Chapters 2 to the end, but not this first chapter. But Rowell is no less right than Robinson. For most people "heaven, hell, death and judgement" are expected subjects among the Last Things. We therefore include death and individual destiny, although Robinson is also right about the doings of God rather than simply the experiences of humankind, and the corporate and cosmic emphasis. This twofold theme is one of several which separate the Christian view of resurrection from the pagan or religious view of immortality. The two conceptions are poles apart: the former is based entirely on the promises and sovereign grace of God; the latter is based on the supposed human capacity to survive death.

1.1. Facing Death: The Inevitability of Dying

There is a practical or existential element to the present book. The author is in his seventies, brought back to life after a near-fatal stroke. It remains a stunning source of perplexity, puzzle, and mystery why so many in their seventies, eighties, and beyond, often seem less to contemplate the inevitability of death, which may come at any time, than many young people or previous generations. Jürgen Moltmann addresses this head-on. Many, he urges, live life as if death did not exist. But this does not help us to live life to the full at all. He writes, "To push away every thought of death, and to live as if we had an infinite amount of time ahead of us, makes us superficial and indifferent.... To live as if there were no death is to live an illusion."

We can easily see, Moltmann claims, how readily honesty about death can be liberating and life-enhancing. To be reprieved from serious illness, or to have experienced near death, far from deflecting us from this life, can give our present life a new depth. It is those who repress the thought of death, who turn life into an idol, who perhaps have also deeply repressed anxieties about death.

Part of the reason for this is the age in which we live, especially in Western culture. Geoffrey Rowell shows how in earlier times death was a central concern to virtually all human life. Even in Victorian times the death rate made confrontation with death inevitable. Cholera epidemics were often devastating, he claims. Rowell writes, "In 1840 the annual death rate per 1,000 persons in England and Wales was 22.9; by 1880 it had fallen to 20.5, and in 1900 it was still 18.2; but by 1935 it had decreased to 11.7.... In 1840 there were 154 infants under a year old who died out of 1,000 live births, and this figure remained fairly constant until 1900." Today, most of the Two-Thirds still-developing World experiences what many in America and Europe think they have left behind. In Christian theology, too, death, and life after death, remained an important subject. Henry Venn, an evangelical pietist, encouraged parents to allow their children to witness the deathbeds of Christians, as did the high churchman John Warton. If we were to consider Africa, India, or much of the Two-Thirds World today, we should find how different is the experience of death among children or near families, not to mention times and places of war.

Moltmann compares the horror with which people faced "sudden death" in the medieval and Renaissance periods, with the contrasting modern Western hope for exactly that: a quick and painless death. Earlier generations feared "sudden death" because such death gave no time for preparation for the next life. But in an age which today tries to suppress the thought of death, this attitude "paralyzes our energies for living.... It makes us arrogant or depressive; it spreads indifference, coldness of heart, and spiritual numbness.... We shut ourselves up in the prejudices that...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2011
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0802866654
• ISBN 13: 9780802866653
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 270
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: gpsr@libri.de; gpsr@libri.de; ; Europaallee 1; Bad Hersfeld; 36244; Deutschland