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Chapter Fifteen: Eschatology
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Fifteen Eschatology Is there a life after death? What may we hope for? What should we think of heaven and hell? Questions like these are traditionally subsumed and treated under the heading of “eschatology,” the doctrine of the Last Things. Contemporary theology has great difficulty answering them. Although the twentieth century has known an enormous revival in the study of eschatology, both in theology and in pastoral care there seems to be a crisis: the old images do not function any longer, and nothing new has emerged to replace them. Has Thomas Aquinas anything to say in this mysterious area of Christian faith? Can the medieval author still be a source of inspiration, a guiding light, despite his outdated cosmology and anthropology? Before these last questions can be addressed, a clear idea must be developed about what exactly Aquinas teaches on the topic. A first glance through Aquinas’ Summa Theologiae is disappointing . Aquinas never finished the last part that was planned to deal with eschatology. Due to an overwhelming experience during Mass on the feast of St. Nicholas, he stopped writing halfway through the treatment of the sacrament of penance. In some editions of the Summa the remainder of the treatise on the sacraments and on eschatology is supplied by a so-called supplementum. As a matter of fact, however, this supplement was composed by Aquinas’ personal secretary, Reginald of Piperno, from material taken from Aquinas’ commentary on the Sentences that had been written twenty years earlier.1 Carlo Leget Those who know Latin—the commentary on the Sentences is still not available in any of the modern languages—and turn to the source of this cutand -paste work are likely to meet a strange world of medieval fantasy and futuretelling . Will the resurrected have hair and nails? (Yes.) Will all be of the masculine sex after resurrection? (No.) Will all resurrect in the same age, as young people? (Yes.) Can a glorified body be in the same place as a non-glorified body simultaneously because of its subtlety? (No.)2 How do we relate to this way of thinking? How can we begin to appreciate the faith that animated the intellectual labor to which these texts testify? And what is the relevance for theology today? Various routes are possible here. I start with Aquinas’ treatment of death, which leads to his reflections on the concept of “life.” His discussion of “life” gives us a key to Aquinas’ eschatology, enabling us to grasp its place in his systematic theology, its connection with the doctrine of God, and its “logic.” From this perspective I offer an interpretation of the peculiar questions with which Aquinas deals. Finally, I address the question as to what contribution Aquinas’ reflections can make to contemporary eschatology. Death Human beings are corporeal beings. They are part of the material world. This means that they are subject to processes of development, growth, and decay. But they also participate in the spiritual world. By their intellectual capacity they share in the immaterial world, a realm of being outside the coordinates of materiality and time. What, according to Aquinas, is a human being, which participate in two worlds, and what happens when a human being dies? A human being, in Aquinas’ view, is a unity of body and soul. Men and women are not intellects that are accidentally wrapped up in a bunch of muscles and bones. Corporeality is a necessary element for speaking of a human being. Contrary to common sense experience—according to which the soul seems to be a function of the body—Aquinas follows Aristotle in stating that metaphysi cally the soul contains the body rather than the reverse.3 The body is held together by the soul. The soul is regarded as the form ( forma), motor, and goal of the body (matter). Thus, metaphysically the soul is the stronger of the two.4 From a theological perspective, human beings hold a unique central position in creation.They are the bridge between the material and the spiritual world.This central position is a privileged one. Consequently, Aquinas calls a human being “a little world” (minor mundus) and considers humanity to be more perfect—in the sense of containing all dimensions of creation—than, for example, angels, who intellectually are far more gifted than the most brilliant human minds.5 [54.205.179.155] Project MUSE (2024-03-19 09:54 GMT) The central position of human beings—a position showing an “overlap”— is reflected...