Source: “GOD AND THE UNIVERSE OF FAITHS: Essays in the Philosophy of Religion”, By John Hick, Danforth Professor of the Philosophy of Religion, 1993.
9. The Theology of Death - An Explainer.mp4
14. Towards A Theology Of Death.mp3
This podcast explores the evolving Christian understanding of death and the afterlife, contrasting historical perspectives with modern interpretations. The author begins by demonstrating the pervasive belief in a life to come in earlier centuries through historical documents, highlighting how this faith deeply influenced attitudes towards mortality. The text then addresses a contemporary shift, noting that "post-christian secular man" often dismisses the afterlife as fantasy, a sentiment that has even influenced a decline in belief within some church communities. Challenging radical theological views that deny an afterlife, the author argues that Christian faith, rooted in Jesus' teachings and God's love, necessitates belief in continued individual personal existence beyond death. Finally, the text proposes moving away from an Augustinian view of death as punishment for sin towards an Irenaean perspective, which sees mortality as a divinely intended stage for soul-making and growth within God's loving purpose, ultimately giving meaning to life and death.
Topic 1: Historical and Contemporary Beliefs about the Afterlife The sources open by contrasting historical views of death and the afterlife with contemporary perspectives. In the 16th and 18th centuries, belief in a life to come was a pervasive factor that significantly influenced people's attitudes towards both life and death. For instance, a 1592 legal precedent for a will demonstrates a firm conviction in the return of the spirit to God and the resurrection of a perfect body at the general judgment. Similarly, an entry from Johnson's diary in 1767 reveals a deeply sincere expectation of meeting again in a "better place" after parting with a dying friend. These historical examples illustrate a "world we have lost," where the firm assumption of a larger existence transcending earthly life was integral to thought. In contrast, today's "post-christian secular man" tends to dismiss the afterlife as fantasy, believing only in what is experienced or revealed by accredited sciences. While not everyone fully embodies this secular view, surveys from the mid-20th century, such as a 1955 BBC report and 1964 Gallup Poll, indicate a decline in belief in an afterlife, even among nominal and regular church attendees across different denominations. This suggests a significant movement away from traditional Christian teaching on the matter.
Topic 2: Modern Theological Interpretations of Death and Afterlife A contemporary trend in radical theology suggests that authentic Christianity has no place for afterlife beliefs. These theologians argue that Christians should not be interested in the possibility of existence after death but ought to be wholly engaged with this world and its pressing human needs and problems. This perspective is seen as a reinterpretation of Christianity, aligning with the secular understanding that focuses solely on the present. The author, while generally sympathetic to modern theological developments and open to breaking established thought forms, expresses concern that this approach often sets up "false, because over-simple, alternatives" and leads to "unwarranted conclusions" regarding the afterlife.
Topic 3: Critique of Ambiguous Theological Stances The author identifies a tendency in popular radical theology to use "double-talk" when discussing the afterlife. This arises from a dilemma: wanting to affirm transcendence, which gives religious substance to faith, yet also wanting to avoid relying on it to communicate with a post-Christian secular audience. This leads to a desire to both affirm and not affirm an afterlife. An example of this ambiguity is found in Bishop John Robinson's book, where he states that eternal life is a "quality of life – here and now – which death cannot touch," implying compatibility with personal extinction, yet also asserts that life is "grounded in a love which will not let me go" and "death cannot have the last word," suggesting continuation after bodily death. The author argues that such language lacks clarity and can be seen as "perilously close to double-talk," obscuring whether a life after death is being affirmed.
Topic 4: Theological Realism versus Reductionism in Eschatology The sources present two main alternatives for Christian thought regarding its traditional tenets, including eschatology (discourse concerning 'the last things' like death). Reductionism claims that the meaning of Christian doctrines can be entirely expressed in terms of present human experience, without reference to anything beyond it. For example, the doctrine of eternal life, in this view, simply means that the life of faith has unlimited value and significance, reducing the metaphysical to the psychological, or the transcendent to the immanent. In contrast, theological realism affirms both dimensions. While acknowledging that eternal life means the life of faith has unlimited worth, realism goes further, claiming that this value is embodied in unlimited existence. It asserts that the ultimately valuable is also the ultimately real, and that which God affirms is held in being by His creative love, making eternal life also life everlasting.
Topic 5: Biblical and Theological Grounds for Christian Belief in Afterlife The author argues that belief in an afterlife is an essential part of Christian faith, grounded in two main areas. First, the teaching of Jesus himself is deeply pervaded by the belief in a future life. This is supported by references to parables like Dives and Lazarus, the controversy with the Sadducees about general resurrection, and numerous sayings about future judgment. The author notes that New Testament scholars generally agree that Jesus believed in an afterlife. Second, belief in an afterlife is presented as a necessary corollary of faith in the "sovereign heavenly Father." It would create an "intolerable contradiction" to affirm God's knowing, valuing, and loving each human individual and evoking their desire to realize their highest potentialities, only for Him to then ordain their extinction before His purpose for them is fulfilled. God's love and demand bestow a dignity upon humanity that transcends that of perishing animals, implying an immortal relationship with God.
Topic 6: The Nature of Eternal Life: Individual Identity vs. Merging A key question addressed is whether eternal life necessarily implies the continued existence of distinct individual human personalities after bodily death, or if it could involve a merging of consciousnesses into a larger whole, like a "drop returning to the ocean." While such abstract ideas are conceivable, the author questions if they satisfy the specific exigencies of Christian faith. If the belief in a life to come is affirmed due to Jesus' teaching or as a corollary of God's love, it seems to necessitate the affirmation of continued individual personal existence. The author finds it hard to see how one could affirm human immortality on Christian grounds without affirming it as involving continued personal identity, suggesting that an agnostic stance on personal continuation risks rendering concepts like "eternal life" or "resurrection" meaningless, despite their comforting emotive overtones.
Topic 7: Distinction between Immortality and Resurrection The sources clarify a common misconception: the distinctively Christian doctrine is not natural immortality, as taught by some ancient philosophers like Plato, but resurrection. The Bible teaches that humanity is mortal, made from dust and destined to return to it. However, God, through His sovereign will and power, recreates individuals after death in another sphere of being, bestowing a new life that is a free divine gift, not an inherent natural quality. This does not, however, mean there is no Christian doctrine of human survival after death. Rather, the doctrine of God's resurrecting the dead is presented as a form of the doctrine of human immortality, where man's immortality is understood as a divine gift and dependent upon God's will. Thus, it clearly implies human survival of bodily death and, in that sense, man's immortality.
Topic 8: The Augustinian Theological Framework of Death One of the two major alternative theological frameworks for Christian belief in an afterlife is the Augustinian tradition, which has largely dominated Western Christian thought. This view is based on the "drama of salvation," beginning with the fall of humanity. In this framework, man was originally created as a "finitely perfect creature" but rebelled against God through original sin, which "brought death into the world, and all our woe." Death is thus understood as a punishment for, or a divinely ordained consequence of, sin, brought upon the entire human race by Adam's transgression. This perspective, elaborated by St. Augustine in the fifth century, portrays human mortality not as part of God's original intention but as an evil, a disastrous outcome of turning away from the Creator. Consequently, the emotions associated with death in this framework are those of guilt, sorrow, remorse, and fear.
Topic 9: The Irenaean Theological Framework of Death (Soul-Making) As an alternative to the Augustinian view, the sources introduce the Irenaean tradition, which envisions human life as a pilgrimage. This framework suggests that man was not created in a finitely perfect state from which he fell, but rather as an "immature creature" at the beginning of a long process of moral growth and development. This view, rooted in strands of Eastern Christianity and developed by thinkers like Schleiermacher, distinguishes between the "image" and "likeness" of God in humanity. Humanity exists in the image of God but is still "raw material" for further creation, being brought to perfection through free responses to the environment. In this "soul-making" theology, earthly life is not a penal condition but a divinely intended opportunity for growth, a journey that crosses the frontier of death because its final end is not attained in this life. Death is seen as a passing on to another stage, allowing God's purpose to continue holding individuals in being in further environments. This perspective argues against the Augustinian notion of death as the absolute moment of irrevocable eternal destiny, especially considering modern knowledge about biological, psychological, and sociological factors that can hinder an individual's fulfillment in this life, thus necessitating continued existence beyond death for God's purpose to be justly fulfilled.