In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

115 4 The New Heavens and the New Earth Dans ma ciel, il y aura des choses. —Charles Péguy1 While the Truth which You are was present, we wondered what the future, eternal life of the saints would be like. —Augustine2 In direct continuity with the doctrine of final resurrection, the return of the risen Lord Jesus Christ in glory (what is called the Parousia) will involve not only the universal resurrection and judgment of humans, but also the destruction, purification, and renewal of the material cosmos, what Scripture calls the new creation (Mt 19:28; Rom 8:18–25; Gal 6:15). Doubtless, humans are destined to govern the world as God’s images or envoys (Gn 1:26–28).3 But it is no less true that humans belong to the world in the fullest possible sense on account of their corporal condition. In other words, the human process of death and resurrection, in all its realism, requires a kind of parallel death and resurrection process on the part of the entire cosmos, the ruin and renewal of the material world. Among other authors, Julian of Toledo addressed this issue; he summed up Western patristic thought in the following terms: “The world, having been renewed for the better, will be suitably accommodated to humans who will also have been renewed for the better in the flesh.”4 Likewise Hugh of St.Victor established a clear connection between final resurrection and the renewal of the world.5 In the life to come, Thomas Aquinas writes, “the whole of bodily creation will be appropriately changed to be in harmony with the state of those who will then be living.”6 1. C.Péguy, Le Mystère des Saints-Innocents. 2. Augustine, Conf. IX, 10. 3. See M.Bordoni, Gesù di Nazaret Signore e Cristo (Roma: Herder; Pontificia Università Lateranense , 1986), vol. 3, 611–12. 4. Julian of Toledo, Prognosticon futuri saeculi, 2:46. 5. Hugh of St.Victor, De sacramentis II, 18:1. He explains that the world will be transformed according to the model of the resurrection. 6. Thomas Aquinas, IV C.Gent., 97. 116 The Object of Christian Hope The Cosmos and the End of the World Vatican Council II documents pay special attention to the cosmic side of the end of the world. The Church, we read in Lumen Gentium, “will receive perfection only in the glory of heaven, when will come the time of the renewal of all things (Acts 3:21). At that time, together with the human race, the universe itself, which is so closely related to man and which attains its destiny in him, will be perfectly re-established in Christ (Eph 1:10; Col 1:20; 2 Pt 3:10–13).”7 This will not take place, the same document continues, “until there be realized new heavens and a new earth where justice dwells (2 Pt 3:13).”8 In the constitution of the Church in the world, Gaudium et spes, the message is repeated: The form of the world, distorted by sin, is passing away (1 Cor 7:31; Irenaeus, Adv. Haer. V, 36:1) and we are taught that God is preparing a new dwelling and a new earth in which righteousness dwells (2 Cor 5:2; 2 Pt 3:13), whose happiness will fill and surpass all the desires of peace arising in the hearts of men (1 Cor 2:9; Rv 21:4–5). Then with death conquered the sons of God will be raised in Christ. . . . Charity and its works will remain (1 Cor 13:8) and all of creation (Rom 8:19–21), which God made for man, will be set free from its bondage to decay.9 Lastly, the Catechism of the Catholic Church deals with the topic at length.10 “The visible universe is itself destined to be transformed,” it says, “‘so that the world itself, restored to its original state, facing no further obstacles, should be at the service of the just’ showing their glorification in the risen Jesus Christ.”11 Renewal and Matter This doctrine serves to express fully the realism of the doctrine of final resurrection . In doing so the Church distances its teaching from Origenism (and Bultmann ), which suggests that the material and corporal world as we know it will be destroyed, and only spiritual realities, of which material reality is considered but a symbol, will remain.12 The notion of the material re-creation of the world...

Share