Vision Of Heaven Research Articles

Enoch’s Vision of the Heavenly Temple (1 En. 14:8–25) Reconsidered

The paper focuses on a reexamination and reassessment of the textual evidence of Enoch’s Vision of the Heavenly Temple and of its classical interpretation as a heavenly temple complex. In line with the common scholarly opinion, 1 En. 14:8–25 has so far been interpreted in the sense of a bipartite or even tripartite temple which resembles the earthly temple in Jerusalem not only in structure but also in appearance. In contrast, this paper claims that this passage of the Book of the Watchers provides a twofold vision of two different temples, namely the inferior earthly temple and the ideal heavenly sanctuary. In this way, it articulates one of the most radical temple critiques of ancient Judaism. This interpretation is based on a careful textual analysis and a meticulous discussion of the individual elements of, in particular, the first house, taking into account other ancient Jewish sources such as Ezekiel, Haggai and the Animal Apocalypse which partially have been ignored so far but provide a helpful and illuminating background for the interpretation of Enoch’s Heavenly Vision.

Visions of Heaven: Dante and the Art of Divine Light. Martin Kemp. London: Lund Humphries, 2021. 240 pp. £45.

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Apocrypha Hiberniae II: Apocalyptica 2

Apocrypha Hiberniae II: Apocalyptica 2

Contemporary Visions of Heaven and Hell by a Transylvanian Folk Prophet, Founder of the Charismatic Christian Movement The Lights

Abstract I conducted anthropological fieldwork (2010–2018) in a charismatic Christian new religious movement the Lights founded by a Transylvanian contemporary folk prophet in 2008. The new religious movement (NRM) has local hubs in North Serbia, Romania, and Hungary. After offering insight into the techniques of how the prophet receives his visions of heaven and hell (as answers to the existential dilemmas of death and the afterlife), I analyse the role and reception of these visionary journeys. I combine interpretive anthropology with the genealogical way of discourse analysis introduced by Michel Foucault. I conceive of complex roles for the narratives about the prophet’s visionary journeys and his theory of reincarnation. These narratives attract people who encounter the prophet and inspire them to participate in the NRM’s religious events. The group wanted to legitimate the prophet with the visions’ moderate style and the relative correspondence with the Bible. Nevertheless, the prophet and the group recognized the divisive nature of these narratives. They found that they could manage their evangelization by creating graduated access to information to avoid preconception judgements. Between 2012 and 2014, the core group of this NRM (lights and the prophet) worked out a multi-level discourse space in the group: a gradation where access to knowledge is based on status. I called this balanced and long-term initiation process the system of threshold narratives.

An Idle Heroine in Industrious Times: Elizabeth Stuart Phelps’ The Story of Avis

An Idle Heroine in Industrious Times: Elizabeth Stuart Phelps’ <i>The Story of Avis</i>

Maulbertsch und die tragische Malerei : die Deckenbilder der Legende des hl. Stephan in der Pfarrkirche von Pápa

The narrative unfolding in the ceiling paintings at Pápa can be taken for a painted tragedy of a complex plot based on Aristotle's notions of change of fate (peripeteia) and recognition (anagnorisis), the precedents of which are not to be sought in ceiling painting but much rather in the history of pictures of the classical approach produced in the early modern age. In terms of classical rhetoric, the style of the three ceiling frescoes corresponds to Quintilian's second category, the sublime and vehement mode of representation (genus sublime, genus vehemens) aimed at moving the recipient. The vision of heaven has a crucial role in the cycle, for the celestial sphere, in the plot the promise of salvation ensures areversal of fortune, an auspicious denouement. The earthly events stir the recipients' emotions but the involvement of justice in the afterlife calms them, thus allowing perfect catharsis to happen. The change of fate in the third fresco is related to the moment of recognition. Through the great masters of the 16th and 17th centuries, pathos theory and the conception of peripeteia became a fundamental, even commonplace pictorial narrative method in history painting and Tridentine religious art of the early modern age. With the Pápa ceiling frescoes Franz Anton Maulbertsch (1724–1796) gave evidence of his broad pictorial culture by choosing from among these visual panels and formulas with a keen eye and shaping them to his own liking.

Hagia Sophia: Byzantine Alterity in the Core of Ottoman Identity

Hagia Sophia:Byzantine Alterity in the Core of Ottoman Identity Bissera V. Pentcheva (bio) KEYWORDS Hagia Sophia, Byzantine, Ottoman Hagia Sophia is a masterpiece of world architecture and art (Fig. 1). Within it, two religions share a vision of heaven: a unity-within-diversity. Remarkably, the chief figure of this conciliatory gesture was no less than Mehmed II the Conqueror. Gülru Necipoğlu, in her important study of the Ottoman use of Hagia Sophia, has shown that "the conquerors chose to define their self-identity in terms of the conquered, while simultaneously remaining meaningful to their own past."1 Mehmed II left most of the figural mosaics uncovered.2 Moreover, he helped promote a new mythology about the building that built on the Greek legends but helped inscribe Hagia Sophia in an Islamic narrative: For instance, the story of the prophet Mohammad and how at his birth the eastern semidome of Hagia Sophia collapsed and was only fixed when a special mortar was procured, which intermixed sand from Mecca, water from the holy well of Zemzem, and the Prophet's saliva.3 Another important legend was that of the follower of the Prophet, Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, who allegedly came as the first Muslim to pray at the site and was then martyred there. Presiding over the composition of these narratives, Mehmed II ensured the preservation of Hagia Sophia as a sultanic mosque and silenced the desire of some segments of his elite and army to destroy the building.4 But how long did the Ottomans allow for the Byzantine extimacy to live at the heart (intimacy) of Ottoman [End Page 223] Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 1. Hagia Sophia 532–537 and 562, interior. The Byzantine Institute and Dumbarton Oaks Fieldwork Records and Papers, ca. late 1920s-2000s Courtesy of Image Collections and Fieldwork Archives, Dumbarton Oaks, Trustees for Harvard University, Washington, D.C [End Page 224] identity?5 This essay seeks answers by focusing on the meaning and experience of the central space of Hagia Sophia (which the Greek called kallichoros) and on two mosaics and their Quranic glosses: the Virgin and Child in the apse and Christ Pantokrator in the dome. Kallichoros Hagia Sophia is a symbol of the universe: an enormous void of over 250,000 cubic meters topped by a soaring glittering golden dome. It is a microcosm of the macrocosm, envisioned as a sphere of unity.6 In Greek this central performance space was called kallichoros, or the beautiful choros.7 Choros means a performance space, a stage, but also the action––dance and song–unfolding in it.8 The kallichoros of Hagia Sophia gives a plastic expression of the cosmos. In the sixth century, Procopius described the newly built Hagia Sophia as having a central performance space alight with three energies: humanity's ascent to the divine, divinity's descent to earth, and the swirling energy of circumscription or perichoreusis uniting terrestrial and celestial. Procopius imagined the interior as clay shaped by the turning of a potter's wheel–apotetorneutai–into a vessel holding a void.9 The generative, circular movement is supplanted by the lifting and ascending energy towards the skies (epairomenos aerobatei). And this ascending vector brings its opposite: divinity descending and hovering over the kallichoros, "loving to dwell in this space emphilochōrein." Thus, Hagia Sophia is experienced as a material shell, whose central void spins and propels humanity to the divine.10 Hagia Sophia's architecture embodies the concept of diversity within unity. The modern engineer and architectural historian, Roland Mainstone perceptively communicated this insight in his analysis of the form: [End Page 225] Unity is achieved on the other hand, by an underlying geometrical discipline that becomes obvious only at the level of the semidomes and dome, and on the other, by details like the horizontal cornices that sweep unbroken across the piers and above the arcaded colonnades, and by the overall unity-in-diversity of the colonnades themselves and the decorative treatment of the wall surfaces––even, perhaps, by a consistent absence of the precise uniformity typical of a modern machine age.11 For Mainstone, Hagia Sophia succeeds in achieving unity without canceling...

Review: Shaker Vision: Seeing Beauty in Early America

Review: <i>Shaker Vision: Seeing Beauty in Early America</i>

Erik R. Seeman, Speaking with the Dead in Early America

American Religion 2, no. 2 (Spring 2021), pp. 169–174 Copyright © 2021, The Trustees of Indiana University • doi: 10.2979/amerreli.2.2.19 Book Review Erik R. Seeman, Speaking with the Dead in Early America (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019) Ava Chamberlain Wright State University, Dayton, USA While reading this fascinating new book I sensed the presence of the dead all around me. Deceased loved ones appeared repeatedly in my dreams. In the family photographs and heirlooms displayed in my home, I recognized my own desire to communicate with the dead. To feel the loss wrought by the coronavirus pandemic, I began keeping a tally of the relentlessly increasing number of COVID-19 deaths. As Erik Seeman perceptively observes, “the living almost always miss the dead, and some mourners will pursue continuing relationships with the deceased” (272). Taking this ordinary human experience as his object of analysis, he surveys early American history from a fresh vantage point that reveals important new dimensions of Protestant lived religion. In Speaking with the Dead in Early America Seeman aims to write “a history of Protestant communication with the dead before the advent of Spiritualism” (5). Having explored African and Native American death ways in two earlier works, he limits the scope of this history to white residents of America’s northern colonies and states. This seemingly conventional focus belies the book’s truly innovative character. By employing new source material and reading well-known sources in new ways, Seeman reveals an unobserved dimension of the lived religion of early American Protestants. American Religion 2:2 170 Seeman finds evidence of communication with the dead in a variety of interesting locations. He approaches the burial grounds scattered throughout New England as a “physical archive” in which the voices of the dead are preserved on “talking gravestones” (73). These voices speak through the epitaphs engraved on the gravestones. Often written in the form of direct address to the viewer, they suggest that the bereaved regularly visited graveyards to hear their loved ones speak and to feel their presence. Similarly, needlework stitched by young women during periods of mourning facilitated communication between the living and the dead. Although commonly written in the third person, these embroidered epitaphs spoke to the viewer by giving “lasting material expression to feelings of grief, loneliness, and resignation to God’s will” (194). Displayed within the home, they provided bereaved family members a tangible connection with their dear departed. Seeman locates evidence of communication with the dead in a wide variety of texts. If you enjoy a good ghost story this book is for you, for it is filled with accounts of “shades,” to use a popular early American term for ghost, appearing at bedsides and in graveyards to comfort the living, to reveal visions of heaven, and to avenge secret crimes, especially murders. Read widely on a popular level, these stories likewise fascinated educated male elites determined to demonstrate the reality of the supernatural using an empirical methodology. Ghosts also made regular appearances in elegiac verse written to commemorate the dead. Seeman observes that the dead frequently speak directly to the living in this popular literary genre, which mourners read at graveside funerals effectively giving voice to the soon-to-be interred corpse. Elegies also permit dead women to speak with an authority often denied the living. Although less commonly the subject of mourning elegies than men, “when [women] did get such attention, nearly half of them spoke from beyond the grave” (67). Seeman emphasizes women’s persistent interest in communication with the dead. As elites increasingly questioned the veracity of supernatural tales appearing in popular print, publishers began catering to a female audience. Stories about guardian angels illustrate this trend. Seeman traces the emergence of the belief that humans become angels in heaven, who in turn return to earth as guardian angels. Women eagerly consumed these stories, especially when the angels were infants returning to comfort their grieving mothers. Women’s letters and journals testify to the sincerity of this belief, thereby revealing that a “dialectical relationship existed between imaginative literature and lived religion” (242). More important, Seeman argues, women’s engagement with the dead “drove important...

Testing the Views of Children of Terrorists: A Comparative Analysis with Children from Low-Income Families

This research was carried out in the Pondok Pesantren Al-Hidayah. This pesantren is located in Deli Serdang District, North Sumatra Province, Indonesia. It is a boarding school that educates children of terrorists and low-income families. This study aimed to analyze the differences between children of terrorists in comparison to children from low-income families, from the perspective of Indonesian nationalism. The subject is Pancasila: the official, foundational philosophical theory of the Indonesian state. The findings of this study indicated that children from low-income families had a better understanding of Pancasila than children of terrorists. However, this does not mean that all children of terrorists did not understand Pancasila, as there were still those who did comprehend a small amount. Regarding the tendency for violence, this study had found that both children of terrorists and children from low-income families both had a desire to hit if bullied or ridiculed. One prominent difference is that children of terrorists seemed to have different imaginations. They might have visions of heaven as well as sharp objects. The percentage of this occurrence was minuscule, which means this trend did not occur in all children of terrorists. However, this finding indicated that children of terrorists needed special attention.

Reading by Design: The Visual Interfaces of the English Renaissance Book

Reading by Design: The Visual Interfaces of the English Renaissance Book

Reading Micaiah’s Heavenly Vision (1Kgs 22:19–23) and 1 Kings 22 as Interpretive Keys

Zusammenfassung: Diese Arbeit stellt die These auf, dass Michas Vision in 1 Reg 22,19–23 und das gesamte Kapitel 1 Reg 22 als hermeneutische Schlüssel fungieren, die dem Leser das darauffolgende Material erschließen. Michas Vision macht deutlich, dass der bevorstehende Sieg der Aramäer und der Tod des Königs von Israel in 1 Reg 22,29–26, die Autorität JHWH′s nicht herausforderte, sondern im Gegenteil bestätigte. Im größeren Zusammenhang kombiniert 1 Reg 22 Themen und Ereignisse aus dem Kontext (1 Reg 16–21; 2 Reg 3–13), um ein Narrativ zu schaffen, das die historischen Ereignisse um den Aufstieg der Aramäer und den Niedergang der Omriden begreifbar macht. Das Kapitel nutzt Ahab und Joschafat als Repräsentanten der Könige von Israel und Juda, um eine Geschichte zu erzählen, die deutlich macht, wie JHWH sich der Aramäer bediente, um die Omriden zu stürzen und Juda aus der Kontrolle Israels zu befreien.

Visions of Heaven and Hell in Byzantine and Japanese (Buddhist) Тradition

Visions of Heaven and Hell in Byzantine and Japanese (Buddhist) Тradition

Violence and the Evolving Face of Yao in Taiping Propaganda

This paper explores the interplay between rhetorical and political violence during the Taiping Civil War (1851–1864). Specifically, I examine how yao 妖, a conception bearing many cultural and historical connotations, was profusely employed in Taiping propaganda and in individual testimonies reflecting traditional political and religious beliefs. In extant Taiping placards, the Taiping rebels used xiwen 檄文, the prose of “call to arms,” to persuade people to take up the Taiping cause and to solicit and justify violence. With the compilation and extensive distribution of these xiwen, visions of violence were disseminated among the masses. Drawing inspirations from ancient historical narratives, vernacular literature, and popular religion, the Taiping rebels ingeniously used yao to refer to demonic existences that should be extinguished with the Heavenly vision. In its versatility, the meaning of yao transmuted as the Taiping movement developed. At the beginning of the movement, yao was used broadly to refer to the Taiping’s religious opponents, however, since 1853, it became a core political and religious concept used to refer to the Manchus and their supporters. Nevertheless, the meaning of yao continued to transform as the Taiping rebels sought to convert local Han militias who were fighting for the Qing government. Ironically, the Han literati conversely used yao to describe the war and the Taiping rebels. When yao was associated broadly with the Manchus, Qing loyalists, and the Taiping rebels, its dehumanizing power became a force of destructive violence beyond comprehension.

La Trinidad, el amor al prójimo y el Cuerpo de Cristo

Augustine’s late writings on grace and predestination raise myriad problems, among them what place the Bishop of Hippo envisions for ethical relations toward others. Where does the second great commandment -love your neighbor- fit into his account of grace? Does it find a constitutive place or is it drowned out by his claims on grace and predestination? This article takes up these enduring questions by examining the trinitarian framework in which Augustine develops his account of the body of Christ. Here we will see that our inclusion in Christ’s body involves not simply an outward reforming of our love toward the other but also a relocating of it within Christ’s body where the discrete separation between the other and myself is bridged and united through the Spirit’s love. Augustine’s model of the totus Christus offers here not only a proleptic eschatological vision of heaven to come, but also places an ethical demand on the historical church. We might say that our genuine humanity, which is being formed through our participation in Christ’s body, entails also a new and redeemed type of existence lived in and through our love of God and neighbor.

Jewish heaven, Christian hell: Rabbi Joshua ben Levi’s vision of the afterlife

ABSTRACTThis article aims to contribute to the history of medieval Jewish perceptions of the afterlife. It presents Rabbi Joshua ben Levi’s ‘Vision of heaven and hell’, a twelfth-century text that differs sharply from all other descriptions of heaven and hell, whether Jewish or Christian, by disregarding graduated judgements of sinners and the righteous in the afterlife. Rather, it depicts a strictly segregated scenario, with Jews in heaven and non-Jews in hell. Psychologically, this vision transformed privation into privilege: misfortune in this world became proof of Jewish elevation in the next one, and Christians’ prosperity in this world foretold their inevitable damnation. This study then surveys evidence of both Christian familiarity with Rabbi Joshua’s composition and subsequent Jewish notions of separate realms in the world to come. This analysis demonstrates that Jewish views of the afterworld were forged through considerable knowledge of and dialogue with Christian sources and thought, although this level of awareness did not foster amity between these religious communities.

Geert Jan van Gelder and Gregor Schoeler (eds and trs), The Epistle of Forgiveness. Volume One: A Vision of Heaven and Hell Preceded by Ibn al-Qāriḥ's Epistle. By Abū l-ʿAlāʾ al-Maʿarrī and The Epistle of Forgiveness. Volume Two: Hypocrites, Heretics and Other Sinners. By Abū l-ʿAlāʾ al-Maʿarrī

Geert Jan van Gelder and Gregor Schoeler (eds and trs), <i>The Epistle of Forgiveness. Volume One: A Vision of Heaven and Hell Preceded by Ibn al-Qāriḥ's Epistle</i>. By Abū l-ʿAlāʾ al-Maʿarrī and <i>The Epistle of Forgiveness. Volume Two: Hypocrites, Heretics and Other Sinners</i>. By Abū l-ʿAlāʾ al-Maʿarrī

Did the Saviour See the Father? Christ, Salvation, and the Vision of God by Simon Francis Gaine, O.P.

Reviewed by: Did the Saviour See the Father? Christ, Salvation, and the Vision of God by Simon Francis Gaine, O.P. Rik Van Nieuwenhove Did the Saviour See the Father? Christ, Salvation, and the Vision of God. By Simon Francis Gaine, O.P. London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2015. Pp. viii + 221. $122.00 (cloth). ISBN: 978-0-56766-443-3. Simon Francis Gaine, O.P., has written an important and refreshing monograph on the topic of Christ's beatific vision on earth. The book is refreshing in two ways: first, because it tackles an issue which has become rather unfashionable, and second, because the book freely roams the frontier area between historical, biblical, and systematic scholarship. The first chapter chronicles how the view that Christ possessed the beatific vision during his earthly lifetime has gone utterly out of theological fashion since Pius XII's Mystici Corporis Christi (1943). In the second half of the twentieth century, there arose a near consensus amongst scholars that the traditional view was in need of revision, if not utter rejection. The Catechism of the Catholic Church did not explicitly retain the doctrine either. Chapter 2 examines the biblical sources of the doctrine. Gaine's account is nuanced. He acknowledges that the terminology of "beatific vision" cannot be found in the Scriptures—but then again, neither can key creedal terms such as homoousion. Of course, there are a number of texts that suggest that the New Testament asserts belief in an eschatological future vision of God, and he discusses these [End Page 443] (Rev 22:4; 1 John 3:2; 1 Cor 13:11-12; and Matt 5:8). The question is then raised: did Christ possess this vision on earth? Gaine argues that Christ's authoritative teaching (see Matt 11:25-26), which struck his contemporaries (see Mark 6:2), allows us to hold that Christ saw the Father (see John 1:18; 6:46) on earth: "though Christ's beatific vision as such may not be thus openly attested Scripture, there is something in Scripture that can invite us to suppose by way of further theological reflection that Christ possessed this vision after all" (39). Christ's "role as teacher … requires him to have not only a source in divine knowledge as well as humanly communicable knowledge, but also a kind of continuity between his divine mind and his human mind rather than isolation of one from the other" (40). The third chapter considers the patristic sources, and Gaine acknowledges that "the results … are admittedly meagre" (53). After a brief outline of Candidus (who falls somewhat outside the patristic canon in chronological terms), he discusses question 65 of Augustine's De diversis quaestionibus LXXXIII (which appears to imply the teaching) and Contra Maximinum, where Augustine connects the vision of Christ's humanity with the heavenly vision of the saints, and, finally, Fulgentius (64-69), from whom the Scholastics took their cue. Ultimately, so Gaine observes, the argument for Christ's beatific vision on earth hinges on whether or not one accepts the Chalcedonian teaching that Christ's "human and divine knowing," although "distinct," "do not exist in isolation from one another" (70). Chapter 4 begins to sketch out a positive case for the plausibility of the earthly Christ's beatific vision, arguing that it is consistent with the intimate knowledge of the Father attributed in the New Testament to Christ as the human communicator of divine truth. While Peter Lombard included the thesis in his Sentences, it is Thomas Aquinas's analysis (mainly from the Summa theologiae and Summa contra Gentiles, less so from the Sentences commentary) that Gaine outlines in some detail (75ff.), and contrasts to the views of Karl Rahner and other modern theologians. Part 2, then, considers some common objections. Chapter 5 raises the question whether or not Christ had faith, and Gaine argues (convincingly in my view) that the New Testament does not ascribe faith to Christ, which further strengthens his overall argument (given the fact that faith and vision are mutually exclusive; see 2 Cor 5:7). The following chapter examines whether the beatific vision of the earthly Christ can be reconciled with Christ...

SCL 20th Annual Conference Report 2015 The Liturgy: It is Right and Just

SCL 20th Annual Conference Report 2015 The Liturgy:It is Right and Just Christopher Carstens (bio) The Society for Catholic Liturgy’s 20th annual conference was held from Thursday October 1 through Saturday October 3 in New York City. Entitled “The Liturgy: It is Right and Just,” the conference included presentations, discussion, and workshops on matters of liturgical language and translation, the virtue of religion, social justice, and appropriate art, architecture, and music for the liturgy. Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone (San Francisco) delivered the keynote address, “We are Bound to give Thanks to God Always: Liturgy that is Right and Just” on Thursday night, October 1, at the Union League Club to nearly 50 participants. Friday began with Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite celebrated by Archbishop Cordileone at the Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral, the site of all conference liturgies. Assisting at the Pontifical High Mass was the Basilica’s Schola Cantorum. Dr. Michon Matthieson opened the conference presentations at the Sheen Center for Thought and Culture with her presentation, “The Divine Liturgy: ‘The justice of Christ become fruitful’.” The day’s remaining presentations included Fr. Thomas Buffer, “The American Liturgical Movement, Social Justice, and Liturgical Change;” Fr. Innocent Smith, O.P., “Misericordiam et judicium cantabo: Liturgical Prayer and the Theology of Mercy in Thomas Aquinas;” Fr. Uwe Michael Lang, “Eucharistic Origins Revisited;” Christopher Owens, “Just Worship: The Necessity of Divine Revelation for Perfection in the Virtue of Religion;” Fr. Nicholas Zientarski, “Lumen Christi: Christ, Candles, and the Dignity of the Catholic Liturgy;” Fr. Daniel Cardó, S.C.V., “The Crucifix and the Altar.” Presentations for the Pastoral Track were from Dr. Jennifer Donelson, “Tone Deaf Priests: A Figment of the Imagination? A Guide to Achieving a Fully-Sung Liturgy in the [End Page 356] Parish;” Dr. Denis McNamara, “From Brown Brick to Jeweled Walls: Building the Council’s Heavenly Vision;” and Jonathan Ryan, “Encouraging the Young Organist.” Following the day’s presentations, SCL members gathered for the annual business meeting. The first significant agendum was the election of three new members: Fr. Paul J. Keller, O.P., Fr. G. Pierre Ingram, and Dr. Michon Matthiesen. Outgoing members were Michael Foley (President), Anthony Lilles, and Denis McNamara. Both remain on the board as ex-officio members: Dr. Foley as past president and Dr. Lilles as 2016 Conference Organizer. The new Board convened shortly after this meeting and selected Dr. Jennifer Donelson as Vice-president/Treasurer to serve alongside incoming President Dino Marcantonio. As Vice-president and Treasurer, Dino Marcantonio anticipated the Society’s 501(c)3 application for tax-exempt status to be received and confirmed in the near future. Fr. Michael Lang, the Editor of Antiphon, expressed his very favorable opinion of Sheridan Press, which had recently been engaged to print and distribute the Society’s journal. Dr. Jennifer Donelson reported ongoing progress on the Society’s website and Facebook page. To conclude the meeting, Dr. Foley announced the 2016 Conference, “Liturgy and the New Evangelization” would take place in Los Angeles, principally at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. Archbishop Cordileone presided at Vespers in the Extraordinary Form. Dinner followed, and the day’s events concluded. Mass according to the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite began the following day at the Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral, with the choir from St. Joseph Seminary, Dunwoodie. Saturday’s plenary address, “Gregorian Chant as Dignus et Justus,” was offered by Dr. William Mahrt at the Sheen Center. Subsequent presentations were given by Dr. Robert Fastiggi, “The Ontological Basis for the Rightness of the Eucharistic Sacrifice according to the French Oratorian, Chalres de Condren (1588–1641);” Fr. Joseph Previtali, “Thomas Aquinas on the Justice of the Liturgy: The Virtue of Religion;” Fr. Paul Keller, O.P., “Zeal for Your House Consumes Me: Embracing the Asceticism of the Liturgy of the Hours;” Fr. Brian Kromholtz, O.P., “It is Right to Mourn;” Taylor Bartlette, “The Liturgy’s Role in the Development of Virtue;” Christopher Carstens, “The Language of Man, of the Trinity, and of the Liturgy: The Right Consonance of the [End Page 357] Word;” Brandon Otto, “The Debt of Glory and...

Ocalenie jakby przez ogień (1 Kor 3,15). Czyściec z perspektywy Biblii i w refleksji teologicznej

Apart from the two final states after death, heaven and hell, there is a third transitional state called “purgatory”. The Church believes in it, though this term does not occur in the Bible. The aim of this paper is to present scriptural sites relating to purification after death. There are only a few texts that concern purgatory and in addition they do not point directly to it: 2 Macc 12:38-45 (prayers and atonement can help the dead), Matt 12:31-32 (certain offenses can be forgiven in the age to come) and 1 Cor 3:10-15 (there is a cleansing fire after death – different from the punishment of the damned). The message of these texts is clear: the lot of a man may be changed even after death. One can also find in the Sacred Scripture some metaphors applying to purgatory: whipping (Lk 12:47-48), imprisonment for debts (Matt 5:25-26) and leaving the netherworld (Matt 12:4). Some scholars think, the Jesus’ parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Lk 16:19-31) also reveals the mystery of the final purification. Although the Church believed in purgatory from the very beginning, she formulated her doctrine of faith on purgatory especially at the Councils of Florence (1439) and Trent (1547). What the Church teaches is that there is a purification that occurs after death for all who die in God’s friendship but who have not been sufficiently purified for the glory of heaven. The purification can involve some kind of pain or discomfort ( poena damni – punishment of temporary rejection and poena sensus – punishment of the senses). Martin Luther and the Protestants reject the doctrine of purgatory. They argue that if a man had to suffer in purgatory, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ would be incomplete and insufficient. The Catholic answer to the dilemma is that salvation assumes two steps: forgiveness of sins and transformation of life. The former occurs immediately, the latter needs time. God changes people and actually makes them righteous. Only when they are entirely sanctified and fully perfected, they are truly fit to enjoy the beatific vision of heaven. And what about people who die before they have been thoroughly transformed? The Catechism of the Catholic Church (1032) encourages the faithful on earth to assist those being purified and to offer prayers, above all the Eucharistic sacrifice, almsgiving, indulgences, and works of penance undertaken on behalf of the dead.