Beatific Vision Research Articles

Is There an End to the Theatrical Play? Hans Urs von Balthasar’s Understanding of the Beatific Vision in Relation to the Theo-Drama

Hans Urs von Balthasar’s teaching on the beatific vision has been drawing scholarly attention. By building upon the works of Thomas Dalzell, Aidan Nichols, and Anne Carpenter, I advance the discussion by demonstrating that the dramatic and artistic-poetic grounding of Balthasar’s theo-drama shapes the way he understands the beatific vision. In his later work, Balthasar transposes the Catholic understanding of the beatific vision according to the art form and logic of drama. Specifically, using the notions of the visio immediata Dei and the visio mortis, he transposes the meaning of the beatific vision such that the divine essence is understood as a union of love in conversation with the Thomistic perspective of an immediate knowledge of God.

Dante’s Political Eschatology: Resurrecting the Social Body in Paradiso 14

This article investigates Dante’s engagement with one of the key and most controversial academic questions of the late Middle Ages: the beatific vision after the general resurrection. This essay focuses on Paradiso 14, where the character of King Solomon explains that the souls’ vision of God will increase after reuniting with their resurrected bodies. After briefly reconstructing the theological debate engaged by Dante’s treatment of the general resurrection, and discussing the prevailing tendencies in the scholarship on Paradiso 14 and the body–soul relationship in the Commedia, this essay provides a new interpretation of this canto from a social and political perspective. It argues that in Dante’s eschatological vision, the resurrected body appears to be essential for the ultimate fulfillment of humanity’s social nature.

Seeing Christ, Seeing the Trinity: Beyond Boersma's Trinitarian Deficit

AbstractIn an effort to correct the alleged ‘christological deficit’ of Thomas Aquinas's theology of the beatific vision, Hans Boersma circumscribes the object of the blessed's vision of God to the humanity of Christ and denies that they immediately see the divine essence. This results in a trinitarian deficit in Boersma's theology. For, as Matthias Scheeben's and Karl Rahner's analyses of Aquinas's theology of the beatific vision demonstrate, the blessed's immediate vision of the divine essence brings them into union with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Juan Alfaro's account of how the blessed's vision of the humanity of Christ operates in harmony with their vision of the divine essence provides resources for constructing a thoroughly christological and trinitarian theology of the beatific vision.

Incarnation and Imagination in Jayber Crow : Wendell Berry’s Divine Comedy

Abstract: Wendell Berry models Jayber Crow on Dante’s Divine Comedy , and in doing so, he dramatizes a fundamental mystery of Christian theology: the Incarnation. Dante and Jayber make parallel errors on their winding pilgrimages to the beatific vision. At times they are tempted to enjoy created goods for their own sakes. At other times they experience frustration with the need to know Christ through the fallen-yet- redeemed members of his earthly body, and they seek instead to apprehend him directly. Yet both eventually enjoy the transcendent gift of God’s presence, and they do so mediated through his earthly body, the communion of saints.

토마스 아퀴나스에 따른 의지의 필연적 추구와 공적의 문제

Man's will necessarily pursues what is in accordance with its nature, and accidentally pursues what does not. Since the will pursues whatever it does in accordance with the good or ultimate purpose, it inevitably pursues formal good in general or the ultimate purpose. And the will inevitably pursues existence, preservation of life, social cooperation, and the pursuit of truth according to man's nature. The methods for realizing these goals are chosen haphazardly.
 However, when the ends according to these natures are in conflict with each other, the will chooses and pursues one by chance. In particular, in the case of the ultimate goal, it includes not only the aspect of self-completion but also the method of realization, and the will has freedom of execution regarding which method of realization the ultimate goal includes. The will can pursue or reject an ultimate goal whose method of realization is worldly values such as pleasure or wealth, or an ultimate goal whose method of realization is goodness itself. In this way, the ultimate goal that the will knows with freedom of execution is inevitably pursued. Because the will has freedom of action in knowing this ultimate end, these activities can be the object of moral merit.
 Obtaining faith by God's grace and achieving beatific vision in heaven are also inevitably accepted by the will when God's help is provided. When the grace of faith is given, it cannot be refused, and the will cannot be given freedom of action when preparing to accept it. The human will cannot exercise any freedom of choice or action under these conditions. So, although ‘free will in a broad sense’ can be recognized in the will, it is difficult to give merit to such activities.
 In heaven, the beatified person does not reject the beatific vision but inevitably pursues it because he has a firm inclination toward goodness. However, in order for the beatified person to have a firm inclination toward goodness, a person must have faith and make efforts in accordance with the correct ultimate goal in this life. The virtue achieved through such efforts in this life is not only the grace of God, but also the freedom of practice as ‘free will in a narrow sense’. These activities can be a contribution to the beatific vision achieved in the afterlife. The degree of supernatural virtue and beatific intuition of the beatified person in heaven varies depending on the grace given initially and the merits formed afterwards.

Eternal law in the thought of Thomas Aquinas

ABSTRACT This paper is a slightly modified version of the keynote lecture given at the 2023 annual conference of the Catholic Theological Association of Great Britain. The theme of the conference was the role of law in the Christian life. The paper opened the conference by following the theological lead of the Common Doctor, St Thomas Aquinas, who treats theology as about God and all things, including law, in relation to God. In particular the paper looks at Aquinas’s understanding in the Summa Theologiae of God as the eternal law. It examines how the eternal law meets Aquinas’s criteria for what counts as a law, and links eternal law to other law, such as natural law, as well as to the doctrines of the Trinity, providence, the beatific vision, and Christology.

Artifice of Eternity

The Christian doctrine of theosis teaches that the natural end of creatures is union with the Holy Trinity, the supernatural end of nature – both human and non-human. However, through certain developments in modernity, there occurred a separation of the natural and the supernatural, and later a dualism between nature and culture. In this essay, I argue, on the one side, that a secularised transhumanism can be seen as a parody of theosis, now reframed within this modern bifurcation between nature and supernature, replacing teleology with technical efficiency and the beatific vision with an immanentized eschatology. However, on the other side, I also wager that the figure of the transhuman or posthuman does nevertheless challenge the separation of nature and artifice, the human and non-human, and that rather than continuing this unsustainable division we should resource alternative theological traditions that have blended nature and artifice with the aim of articulating a Christian vision of theandric humanism.

The Church as a Creation of the Gospel

There Have Been Many Discussions About The Nature Of The Church—what Makes A Church A Church. Drawing From Reformational Insights, This Article Engages With This Question From A Soteriological Perspective. The Reformed Soteriological Story Begins With Creation. Creation Was, However, Disturbed By The Fall. God Offers The Story Of Redemption For The Whole Creation. Finally, God’s Work Of Redemption Culminates In The Beatific Vision Of His Glory, Which Can Already Be Beheld And Tasted Here And Now. I Will Follow This Framework (creation, Fall, Redemption, Glorification) To Present A Proposal For A Reformed Ecclesiology Developed From Reformed Soteriology. Though Written From An Indonesian Perspective, This Article Tries To Bring Together Voices From Both Global Hemispheres In An Irenic Dialogue. KEYWORDS: Soteriological Ecclesiology, Evangelical Ecclesiology, Gospel-centered Ecclesiology, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Stephen Tong

Anonymous Expressions Regarding the Theological Debates in the Commentary of al-Ṭabarī II: Some Controversial Issues Regarding the Acts of Human and the Hereafter Life

The first centuries of Islamic history have witnessed many theological debates. The sectarian groups of that time have used the Qur’ānic text and the traditions in order to support their ideas. Therefore the Qur’ānic text became a field of controversial debates among the theologians of Islam. Being among the forerunner savants of Islam, Muḥammad b. Jarīr al-Ṭabarī (d. 310/923), also handled the main theological debates of the first three centuries of Islam in his commentary called Jāmiʽ al-Bayān ʽan Taʼwīl Āy al-Qurʼān. al-Ṭabarī, mostly, presents the theological deba-tes among the Islamic sectarian groups without mentioning the proper names of the persons or the sects to whom the related theological views belong to. He usually uses anonymous expressi-ons such as ‘some researchers’, ‘some exegetes’, and so on instead of giving proper names of the sectarian groups or the personalities. Therefore, in this article, the proper names of personali-ties and sectarian groups alluded to by al-Ṭabarī under anonymous expressions will be brought to light relying mainly on the Islamic literature. As a common method of his commentary al-Ṭabarī, mostly transmits traditions related to the theological debates he deals with, nevertheless he sometimes does not supply any tradition regarding the disputed theological topics. In this study, only the isnāds of the traditions quoted by al-Ṭabarī will be provided, whereas every supported view will be briefly summarised. Here we will not handle all the anonymous expressions related to the theological debates, but we will sum up some controversial theological issues regarding the acts of human and the hereafter life such as beatific vision, the definition of faith, free will, the creation of human acts, and so on.

A CRITIQUE OF TAKFῙR TENDENCY IN BARBAHĀRI’S SHARḤ AS-SUNNAH

Takfῑr (excommunicating Muslims from Islam) has recently attracted renewed attention among Muslim scholars due to its devastating effects on Muslims. Modern Salafism is mostly accused of the trend. Hence, the present research traces the genesis of Takfῑr tendency to one of the most acceptable classical works among the modern Salafis, Sharḥ as-Sunnah of Imam Barbahāri (d. 329 A.H.). The paper is library-based and adopts the analytic method of research. The study reveals that Barbahāri is guilty of loose declaration of worthless matters as an act of apostasy. Some of the matters in which he displayed the Takfῑr tendency are differing from the Companions in any religious matter, the beatific vision of Allah in this world, the consecration of his work, treating Muslims as non-believers, and sweeping declaration of his contemporaries as an apostate. It also found the Takfῑr -laden approach of the author in his work was triggered by the nature of the heretic Jahmiyyah sect he targets. It will be out of context to apply his texts to the generality of non-Hanbali Muslims who don’t share the grave and dangerous creeds of the Jahmiyyah. This is the point where many modern Salafis who hold the work in high esteem become guilty. They adopt the letters of Barbahāri ’s texts as a general guideline for relating with their opponents, even if their religious differences are not up to the standard of the heretic Jahmiyyah

A Critical Reading of Jean‐Luc Marion's Interpretation of Anselm's Ontological Argument

AbstractIn this essay, I qualify Jean‐Luc Marion's anti‐ontological interpretation of Anselm's argument. Marion claims that the argument is not ontological but in line with Dionysian apophatic theology. To substantiate his anti‐ontological reading, Marion suggests that the main regulative idea of the Proslogion is bonum. The final regulative idea, however, is gaudium, since gaudium, not bonum, leads the argument to the beatific vision. If we reformulate the Proslogion focusing on gaudium, we find that Marion's analysis misses the evident ontological aspects of the argument, such as the tradition of prayer and hermeneutics. Since Anselm promulgated the argument within the Benedictine tradition of Bec, the practice of prayer or meditation is the legitimate context of the argument. However, because of his emphasis on the structure of call and response over the ontological and hermeneutical aspects of revelation, his analysis neglects the importance of the hermeneutic relation within which the Proslogion is born.

:Thomas Aquinas on Seeing God: The Beatific Vision in His Commentary on “Peter Lombard’s Sentences” IV.49.2

:<i>Thomas Aquinas on Seeing God: The Beatific Vision in His Commentary on “Peter Lombard’s Sentences” IV.49.2</i>

The Joy of Eternal Life by Philipp Nicolai

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.

The Beatific Vision in the Synopsis Purioris: Its Medieval Context

This article explores the background to the discussion of the beatific vision found in the Synopsis Purioris Theologiae (1625) by comparing what is found therein with several treatments of the topic by prior and contemporary theologians at the University of Leiden. This historical context reveals the distinctive contribution offered by the SPT, which primarily consists in its engagement with debates found in medieval scholasticism concerning the beatific vision. By surveying two exemplary thinkers from the medieval era, Thomas Aquinas and John Duns Scotus, in consideration with what was found in the SPT, an example is provided that displays the eclectic appropriation of medieval sources within the Reformed Orthodox tradition.

Defending ‘Avertive’ Religion: Calvin on the Visio Dei and Moral Theology

Against claims that John Calvin repudiated the beatific vision and teleological virtue ethics, this article demonstrates the importance of the visio Dei by examining sections of Calvin’s exegesis and several important sermons. To explicate how such a teleology impacts the Christian’s relation to ‘lower goods’, it then explores Augustine’s theology of created being. Together these conversations contribute to an explanation of Calvin’s view of Christian moral life now through growth in virtue and in relation to the hope of seeing or contemplating God.

Thomas Aquinas and Contemplation

<i>Thomas Aquinas and Contemplation</i>

God of Order

The doctrine of the beatifying vision of God may be derived not only from Sacred Scripture’s promise to the faithful that they shall ‘see God’ (Matt 5:8; 1 Cor 13:12; 1 John 3:2), but also (and perhaps more fundamentally) from Scripture’s testimony that God ‘is not the God of disorder but of peace’ (1 Cor 14:33). An analysis of the concepts of nature, on the part of humanity, and agency, on the part of divinity, within a broadly Aristotelian framework elucidates why early modern Reformed scholastics exposited the beatific vision as the ultimate end of humankind as a fitting implicate of the biblical testimony that God is a God of order.

‘Draw me after you’: Toward an erotic theosis

AbstractIn this article I propose an erotic theosis as a fruitful possibility for conceptualising our final participation in union with God in the beatific vision and for imaging said participation on earth. Particularly, I propose a synthesis of recent work from Oliver Crisp on theosis with that of Sarah Coakley on sexual desire as an especially helpful way in which to conceive of our ever-deepening participation in God's love. Further, this synthesis uses contributions from Erin Dufault-Hunter on the intersections of sexual desire and ethics as a catalyst for its recommendations.

Flourishing: Catholic Psychological Approaches

Flourishing, or happiness, has become a prominent topic in contemporary psychology. It has deep roots in psychology in the United States, extending back to the “healthy-mindedness” movements of the late 19th and 20th centuries, and even deeper roots in philosophy, with Aristotle having addressed eudaimonia (which is often translated into English as flourishing or happiness) in his ethics. Typically, flourishing in psychological investigations has a secular backdrop. However, Catholic psychologists over the past century and earlier have addressed the topic, extending it to include beatitude and sanctity, with perfect happiness possible only after death, with the Beatific Vision. This article develops the formulations of flourishing by Catholic psychologists Michael Maher, Thomas Verner Moore, Joseph Nuttin, and Antoine Vergote, and the group who have published the Catholic Christian meta-model of the human person. Human flourishing has universal dimensions—some things we all must seek—and simultaneously, it is a call unique to each individual.

That All Shall Be Saved: Heaven, Hell, and Universal Salvation by David Bentley Hart

Reviewed by: That All Shall Be Saved: Heaven, Hell, and Universal Salvation by David Bentley Hart Glenn B. Siniscalchi David Bentley Hart, That All Shall Be Saved: Heaven, Hell, and Universal Salvation. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2019. Pp. 224. $16.00, paper. Recognizing that certain expressions of Christianity have taught that everyone will see the beatific vision, Hart maintains that the doctrine of universal salvation has frequently been the minority viewpoint within Christian communities. However, that minority stance does not prevent Hart from arguing persuasively that the credibility of the gospel message is at stake in this debate. This book is a mesmerizing defense of the claim that everyone will freely submit to the Christian God. This is not to say that all beliefs concerning damnation are logically incoherent, but one should acknowledge the strength of Hart’s theological and philosophical arguments in That All Shall be Saved that the fires of hell will cleanse the unrepentant of the shortcomings that prevented them from cooperating with the Reign of God during their earthly lifetimes. Each of four meditations focuses on a distinct argument in support of the basic thesis of the book. Following the lead of Gregory of Nyssa, for instance, the doctrine of creatio ex nihilo reinforces the theology of God as the origin and destiny of all human beings. The second meditation discusses some of the complicated issues related to the proper translations and exegesis of the biblical texts (and whether the doctrine of an eternal hell is biblically based). Hart offers a plethora of textual evidence that the doctrine of universal restoration is firmly rooted in the scriptures. The third meditation continues the tradition of classical Christian thought on the collective nature of the identity of human beings. To state the case succinctly, if one person is saved, we must conclude that everyone will reach heavenly bliss. In Hart’s words, “Finite persons are not self-enclosed individual substances; they are dynamic events of relations to what is other than themselves” (p. 151). The last meditation concentrates on the nature of freedom as a condition of being for responsibility and excellence, not as the mere ability to choose between competing options. With this traditional understanding of human freedom in the background, the onus is placed on whether the intellect is able to see the good and the true in a fallen world. God’s grace therefore becomes paramount in guiding human beings toward their final ends. Reading this book as a Catholic theologian with a strong interest in fundamental theology, interfaith dialogue, and the philosophy of religion, I have been fascinated by Hart’s scholarly publications and public lectures, many of which are available online. These have played a major role in convincing me that his depiction of the eschatological horizon is correct. Catholic scholars who live with anxieties about the incompatibilities between conciliar teachings and belief [End Page 125] in universal restoration are strongly encouraged to consult Trent Pomplun’s article, “Heat and Light: David Bentley Hart on the Fires of Hell,” Modern Theology 37 (April, 2021): 523–530. Many intellectuals have discussed Hart’s works in several respectable forums, but, when their reviews and commentaries are carefully interpreted, one becomes perplexed by the misrepresentations of the arguments in support of select universalist positions. As long as one accepts a few other foundational beliefs about the nature of a theistic God and Christianity, the cumulative effect of the case that is presented in Hart’s book will likely remain irrefutable. Glenn B. Siniscalchi Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology, St. Meinrad, IN Copyright © 2023 Journal of Ecumenical Studies