“Where do I go
when I die?” is a question that is part of the human condition and
you will find answers to it in every culture. Cultures change and
shift depending on the influences and conditions they live through
and concepts also are moulded and moved to follow these changes. In
the development of those Last Things the Church has had a development
of ideas and thoughts that range across the faith. The origin of
these thoughts begins in Jewish thinking where descriptive terms such
as Sheol, Gehenna and Abraham's Bosom evoke a mixed tapestry that
Christianity has taken run with. There are differences between the
cultural Eschatologies around us and the traditional images that the
Christianity has developed. At times Christianity's attempts to
communicate its Eschatological thought to other cultures has been
difficult. This has been because the Christian imagery is too linked
to the European/Western imagery that does not translate well. But
what if it is possible to dialogue with other cultures in such a way
as to learn from their images and symbols of their place of the dead.
What could be gained by such a dialogue could both sides learn that
something is missing in their Eschatology? Is it possible that
something that is so strongly evoked in the death and resurrection of
Jesus as the place of the dead has been misplaced in Christianity?
That by focusing so much on the future and our encounter with the
divine we have missed our human connections that still dwell in the
place of the dead where Jesus stayed.
The parable of The
Rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31) is set within a sequence of
episodes where Jesus is teaching about the opposing concerns of
purity and hospitality. This parable focuses on the dangers of greed
and, the responsibility of the wealthy to use their wealth and power
to look after the poor. The Pharisees are described as “lovers of
Money” and are the main target within this parable, as their
overemphasis on piety is contrasted by Jesus consistent focus on the
ethical demands of the law. Luke's narrative characterises the
Pharisees as more focused on their place and position in society and
having little or no concern for the poor and marginalised.
The parable itself
is about an unnamed Rich man and a destitute man named Lazarus. After
explaining the rich mans and lavish life and the impoverished life
of Lazarus the story explains that in the afterlife their roles are
reversed. The rich man is in torment while Lazarus is safe alongside
the great father of the Jewish faith, Abraham. The focus we require
is not on the message of the text but the use of the culturally
specific eschatological themes and structures. Luke's narrative has
Jesus using the culturally understood images of the Jewish
conceptions of, what is and what happens after death. It is in
Gehenna/Sheol that the person is placed in one of two sections.
Obviously, Abraham and Lazarus are in the place for the righteous
dead while the Rich Man is in the place of the unrighteous. Abraham's
Bosom is close to the place of fire and torment. They are only
separated by a distance so small that those on either side are able
to communicate with the other.
In discussion and
inquiry into those “unsolved riddles of the human
condition”Christian
tradition has a varied, and, at oft times a tense and conflicted
relationship with the variations of what occurs after death.
From a Place of the dead, to Purgatorial indulgences, to
Atemporialism (an instantaneous leap to the resurrection), the
development of images and forms of what happens after death has been
a constant development over time.
To investigate the eschatological ideals the De quibusdam
quaestionibus actualibus circa eschatologiam, Some
Current Questions In Eschatology was instituted by Pope
Benedict XVI, then Cardinal Ratzinger.
Questions In Eschatology is an impressive work covering a range of
issues within Eschatological thought. It asserts the Catholic
position on Purgatory, Resurrection, and the life to come. Questions
In Eschatology also warns of the docetic spiritualist Eschatologies
which are contrary to our Christology and the promise of bodily
resurrection. Despite being a part of the Catholic Churches continued
investigations into those unsolved riddles, it is not without
criticism. Peter C. Phan who finds the use of Balthasar over Rahner,
if not lacking, then somewhat suspect. His opinion is that perhaps
the council is 'trying to have its cake and eat it too' by attempting
to keep a redefined Purgatory within traditional Catholic
Eschatology.
For support Questions in Eschatology calls to the Apostles' Creed,
however, the history of Eschatology within the liturgy has been one
shaped by the changes in tradition. “He descended in to Hell”,
or, as in the latin “Descendant et Infernos” was earlier in the
history of the creedal language “Descendant et Inferos” as it is
in the Athanasian Creed.
Inferos (place of the dead) as it is in the earlier creeds is closer
to the imagery Luke 16:19-31 than the more recent tradition of
Purgatory.There has been a development over time in the history of
Christianity one that has brought about different answers to the
riddle of what occurs after death.
The tradition of
Eschatological thought has developed overtime from that used in the
Parable of The Rich Man and Lazarus, however, is there really that
much difference between them? When we read both Lazarus and The Rich
Man communicating with each other there is a different conception of
the destination of the person. Historically, the development of
Eschatology had two competing foci. The restoration of all creation
as seen by Origen, or, the popular choice, the destination of sinners
and saved as asserted by Cyprian, Athanasius, Augustine, Aquinas.
When it comes to the development of Eschatological thought it has
drifted from the centre of Christian thought to the outer fringe. For
many in the faith it is more about the exclusions other than
restoration and resurrection. This is puzzling because the centre of
our hope and faith is the resurrection and the promise that all can
and will be restored. Where just as Jesus Christ was raised bodily
from the death giving hope not just for humanity, but for all of
creation. This was the ideal of the Patristic Fathers one that is at
times confused and obfuscated by the many variants that are louder
and more divisive than the message of love and hope that it is (Hill
622-628).
If Theology is
“Faith seeking Understanding” the predictions and cosmologies
that have become the realm of the last things are not Theology
proper. It is closer to the representation of an ideal, we need a
disambiguation that is able to create a distinction between what is
Theological and Eschatological or not. In Phan's critique of
Questions In Eschatology he focuses on Rahner's separation between
Eschatology and the Apocalyptic, the difference is where the
information is coming from. An Eschatology is based on the
Christology and Anthropology of the resurrection of Jesus, where, an
Apocalyptic narrative is sourced as an advance report from the
future.
Rahner's disambiguation assists us in our understanding of the
difference between the Apocalyptic and an Eschatology informed by
both Christology and Anthropology.
It points to the hope in resurrection and who is in charge of the
judgement and restoration to come, which is a hope beyond any
narrative or tradition that has been imbued with too much certainty.
Though what about that which is between death and resurrection? How
do we interpret that space?
Jesus dies and is
resurrected into that life promised for all who believe and follow.
Luke 16:19-31 gives us an image of the understanding of this
destination as the Jewish people conceived, Gehenna, Sheol,
Abraham's Bosom, the place of the dead. It is this image that is used
in the early creedal affirmation “Desdant et Inferos”. Not a
Harrowing of Hell in triumphal procession, but a place where the
person rests. Person and not a soul because of the overuse of the
soul slides eventually to an Hellenic dualism (Rahner 340).
Bodiliness is central to resurrection and we cannot veer away from
it. Even so, there is still that which is no longer animating the
body something is missing. Scientists have weighed the human body
before and after death and there is 21 grams absent. We look at the
corpse and see an absence, that person is no longer present despite
their body. The person is somewhere or nowhere and there are answers
to this destination are found within every culture.
Where has Jesus gone
and returned from? By pointing out the Christian development from
Sheol to Purgatory, Atemporalism and beyond it is possible that this
can be taken as a development within Christian culture. While
Protestants have left Holy Saturday behind there are those who seek
to bring notice to the pause between Jesus' Death and Resurrection.
Hans urs von Balthasar has detailed his vision of Jesus Dead in the
place of the dead
and the responses to this was quite dramatic in some places. Maybe
there is another way to look at Balthasar's vision of Jesus dead in
the place of the daed? Could it be another step in the cultural
development of Christian thought on what comes after death?
Within Questions in
Eschatology more than a Christian understanding of the place of the
dead is covered. Eastern and African cultural understandings are
mentioned as to their use of the Soul in their conceptions of the
place of the dead.
This reflects the advocation within Gaudium et Spes
and Nostra Ataete
for dialogue and inspection of those things within other cultures
that have the light of Truth in them. A dialogue that requires
consideration of the cultural and contextual issues to create forms
of relevant transmission of the Gospel. A culture is only able to
accept an Eschatology within the limits of the cultures symbols and
lifestyle. People struggle when the image of an afterlife is too
high or too low.
As an example, to talk of mansions to cultures that live in huts or
tents is outside of their cultural context. Variety exists, but, to
enforce one that is beyond another's reach conceptually or culturally
would make it irrelevant. For this reason each culture has it's own
tales of the place of the dead. These tales are told not just to
entertain but to give answers on what lies beyond the vale of death.
The
veneration/remembrance of the dead exists in many cultures often
along with a place of the dead. The native peoples of what is now
Central America had their own visions of Heaven and Hell and these
were akin to a Dantean structure with its many levels. Interestingly
to gain the favour of the colonial powers the native Eschatology was
altered to match the Dantean levels exactly.
Such situation is one of history as Questions in Eschatology does
assert dialogue between Catholic Church and other faiths on areas of
similarity. Dialogue is the core of the many cultural images and
mutual understandings of the place of the dead.
Dialogue not just between faiths but relational dialogue between the
living and the dead. As the living grasp to understand the loss of
one of their own, be it father, mother, sister, brother, husband
wife, lover all ties to that person are suspended. There is a break
in relationship, though as we and the Disciples of Jesus came believe
in there is a hope that this relationship can be rejoined. Such a
hope of redeemed relationship is that, come death our relationship
with Jesus is fully realised as we behold Him.
Ratzinger and Balthasar both place emphasis on this relationship
realised and that is an outworking of the Christology of Death
, but where is the Anthropology for those yet to join them?
A focus on the
vertical relationship between the God and Man is required, but there
is also the horizontal human relationship. Especially when the Human
trajectory of birth, life death and the place of the dead is one that
is followed by Jesus in the fullness of His humanity. Though there is
All Saints and All Souls these traditions are part of the Mexican Dia
de la Muertos which infuses the Indigenous venerations (Aztec, Olmec,
Mayan, Toltec, etc) and concepts of death as “one part in the wider
cycle of existence...”.
Why the Mexican celebration of the dead? Mexican poet Octavia Paz's
writings on the Day of the Dead seem quite familiar to what has been
said previously.
“There are two attitudes towards death: one, pointing forward,
that conceives of it as creation; the other, pointing backward, that
expresses itself as a fascination with nothingness or as a nostalgia
for limbo.”
Rahner's
disambiguation between Eschatology and Apocalypse fits in this same
definition. Earlier Paz comments on the difference of the Mexican
familiarity with Death in contrast to the Western fear of it. “Death
were is thy sting!” (1 Cor 15:55) is a rally cry of defiance
against the old foe. Where in contrast Paz speaks of familiarity with
death, not that there is no fear but an acceptance that Death is as
much a part of our human trajectory as Birth and Life is.
Where in contrast there are Christian bumper stickers of defiance
with Fear Not from Isaiah 41:10.
Our story needs an
ending, one that will fit with the Grace and Love found within the
Gospels. One that inspires and meets the needs of more than just
Christian culture. There is more to Eschatology than the destination
of sinners and saved, as the restoration of all Creation is promised.
Questions in Eschatology is not first or final word on the place of
the dead within Christianity, granted, it may be a while till another
such document is approved by the Catholic Church. Church tradition
when investigated shows a focus on the destination than the person in
whom our Faith, Hope and Love is secured. Our all too familiar
addiction to the vertical relationship fostered by the desire to be
sheep and not goats creates problems when contextualising this Hope
to other cultures. To be able to communicate that Hope to more than
just the familiar Christian affiliated symbols and images enables
people to grasp within their cultural context the true light of the
Gospels. What it may also do is communicate back to those stuck and
looking ahead too far. The resurrection of Jesus must not bring woe,
as our relational bonds are not severed by death. We need to remember
there is a life that involves more than just a heavenly ticket to
ride, but a human trajectory. One that has been charted from birth to
a place of the dead and is destined in restoration and resurrection
for all of creation.
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