The Joy of Eternal Life by Philipp Nicolai

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Joy of Eternal Life by Philipp Nicolai Joshua Hollmann The Joy of Eternal Life. By Philipp Nicolai. Translated by Matthew Carver. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2021. 286 pp. Philipp Nicolai's (1556–1608) spiritual masterpiece, Freudenspiegel des ewigen Lebens, (1598, second edition in 1607, on which this first English translation is chiefly based), centers on the daily comfort and doctrinal content of eternal life, and how God prepares Christians for the happiness of eternal life. Written during the plague, the hopeful work is intended to point to the ultimate good of eternal salvation (xi-xii), to strengthen in every necessity and travail (xv), and to contemplate the peace of eternal life as joyful mirror of the soul (xiii). Taking the form of catechesis and drawing primarily upon Scripture and Augustine, the treatise unfolds a systematic treatment of eternal life which incorporates the cosmic sweep of creation to redemption in Christ and new creation. This book is divided into two parts: the first covers the loci of eternal life as found throughout scripture by questioning and answering whether there is eternal life, what is eternal life, and the properties and benefits of eternal life (7–115). The second part focuses on how the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, readies, furthers, and causes Christians to reach eternal life through the ministry of the church and meditation on scripture (117–268). Both parts serve as compendium on the teaching of eternal life in, with, and under the persistence of the Gospel, inviting Christians to desire nothing higher than eternal life (3). While serving as pastor and theologian amidst the death and burial of more than 1,400 neighbors and parishioners in Westphalia, Nicolai composed his consolatory contemplations. He directs readers to desire the beauty of eternal life and illumines a distinctively Lutheran understanding of the beatific vision. Notable sections include attributions of Augustine on divine love (23–28, 44, 66–67, 122–124, 134–135, 157–158), a Christocentric transmission of Augustine's five spiritual senses (50–59, see Augustine, Confessions, Book X), praying with a Christ-believing heart in love (85), becoming partakers of the divine nature (39, 259–261), and the communal life of the new creation (78–79, 264–268, see Augustine, City of God). The book thus exhibits how thoroughly Augustinian and affective [End Page 199] Lutheran spirituality was in the early modern era. It echoes the scholastic structure of Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologiae in outlining an exitus-reditus schema to the Christian journey from God and through Christ back to God as compelled by the love of God which instills in Christians the desire for eternal life. Indeed, as Nicolai shows, all the works of God testify that there is eternal life, and Christians are to rejoice in the contemplation of eternal life (10). The layout of this translation aims for accuracy to the original (vii)—at times disjointedly. Still the short sections on contemplating various aspects of eternal life are advantageous for devotions, Bible studies, and sermon preparation. Two sections especially, on the three goods of the tree of life (141–149) and spiritual pregnancy for every believer in Christ (191–193), present potent images for preaching and teaching the faith. An index, not present, would prove helpful for scholars, as Nicolai includes interesting references, for example, the symbol of the pelican (139), the Fathers (206), Plato (212), and Luther on dying (198–199). After a global pandemic where the focus was decidedly on this life and living within the enclosed societal and imaginary space of what the contemporary Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor terms the immanent frame, Nicolai's contemplative compendium refocuses Christians on life forever with God, the highest good. Countering the current predilection for this worldly preaching, this book constructively reminds Christians that this life is penultimate to the bliss of life of the world to come. Joshua Hollmann Concordia University St. Paul Copyright © 2023 Johns Hopkins University Press and Lutheran Quarterly, Inc.