Geoffrey Rowell
- Published in print:
- 1974
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198266389
- eISBN:
- 9780191683022
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198266389.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity, Theology
The pattern of the nineteenth-century debates about eschatology was not determined by critical attacks on the doctrines of everlasting punishment and the immortality of the soul alone; it also ...
More
The pattern of the nineteenth-century debates about eschatology was not determined by critical attacks on the doctrines of everlasting punishment and the immortality of the soul alone; it also reflected the particular tensions inherent in the accepted eschatology of Western Christendom. Any account of the development of eschatology in the nineteenth century must be prefaced by a brief survey of the history of Christian eschatology in order that these tensions may be fully understood. For Christianity, the tension between the two eschatologies was perhaps more acute than in Judaism, for the figure of Christ was central to Christian eschatology. The Resurrection of Christ meant that the resurrection of the body became a cardinal affirmation of the Christian faith, and thus an eschatology of the immortality of the soul could never entirely dispense with the resurrection at the Last Day.Less
The pattern of the nineteenth-century debates about eschatology was not determined by critical attacks on the doctrines of everlasting punishment and the immortality of the soul alone; it also reflected the particular tensions inherent in the accepted eschatology of Western Christendom. Any account of the development of eschatology in the nineteenth century must be prefaced by a brief survey of the history of Christian eschatology in order that these tensions may be fully understood. For Christianity, the tension between the two eschatologies was perhaps more acute than in Judaism, for the figure of Christ was central to Christian eschatology. The Resurrection of Christ meant that the resurrection of the body became a cardinal affirmation of the Christian faith, and thus an eschatology of the immortality of the soul could never entirely dispense with the resurrection at the Last Day.
Geoffrey Rowell
- Published in print:
- 1974
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198266389
- eISBN:
- 9780191683022
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198266389.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity, Theology
Heaven, hell, death, and judgment are the traditional Four Last Things of Christian theology, but it would be true to say that twentieth-century theologians have been embarrassed at saying much about ...
More
Heaven, hell, death, and judgment are the traditional Four Last Things of Christian theology, but it would be true to say that twentieth-century theologians have been embarrassed at saying much about any of them. In this, they stand in sharp contrast to the majority of nineteenth-century divines, who not only wrote at length on Christian eschatology, but regarded it as a central part of Christian teaching. A common theme of Evangelical eschatology was the discussion of the details of the future life. No discussion of nineteenth-century ideas concerning the future life would be complete without a mention of the Spiritualist movement, even though this had little direct influence on the doctrine of more orthodox religious thinkers. Perhaps the most important change in eschatology was the more personal understanding of Christianity which was characteristic of the nineteenth century.Less
Heaven, hell, death, and judgment are the traditional Four Last Things of Christian theology, but it would be true to say that twentieth-century theologians have been embarrassed at saying much about any of them. In this, they stand in sharp contrast to the majority of nineteenth-century divines, who not only wrote at length on Christian eschatology, but regarded it as a central part of Christian teaching. A common theme of Evangelical eschatology was the discussion of the details of the future life. No discussion of nineteenth-century ideas concerning the future life would be complete without a mention of the Spiritualist movement, even though this had little direct influence on the doctrine of more orthodox religious thinkers. Perhaps the most important change in eschatology was the more personal understanding of Christianity which was characteristic of the nineteenth century.
David Ellis
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199546657
- eISBN:
- 9780191701443
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199546657.003.0007
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century Literature and Modernism
This chapter discusses the attitude of Lawrence with regards to his illness. Lawrence refused to regard his illness as terminal, yet in the late 1920s, death was a subject which increasingly ...
More
This chapter discusses the attitude of Lawrence with regards to his illness. Lawrence refused to regard his illness as terminal, yet in the late 1920s, death was a subject which increasingly preoccupied him. His attitude to it was very different from his mother's. One of the reasons he felt able to deny or neglect his tuberculosis may have been the consciousness of coming from a family it had never directly affected. Lawrence may have believed in the spirits of the dead yet it is hard to find any clear sign in his life or writing of a firm conviction that his own spirit would live on. He did not believe in Heaven, or any other features of Christian eschatology, but then neither could he quite accept the materialist view that after death the body decays and there is nothing more to be said.Less
This chapter discusses the attitude of Lawrence with regards to his illness. Lawrence refused to regard his illness as terminal, yet in the late 1920s, death was a subject which increasingly preoccupied him. His attitude to it was very different from his mother's. One of the reasons he felt able to deny or neglect his tuberculosis may have been the consciousness of coming from a family it had never directly affected. Lawrence may have believed in the spirits of the dead yet it is hard to find any clear sign in his life or writing of a firm conviction that his own spirit would live on. He did not believe in Heaven, or any other features of Christian eschatology, but then neither could he quite accept the materialist view that after death the body decays and there is nothing more to be said.
Nancy Mandeville Caciola
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781501702617
- eISBN:
- 9781501703478
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501702617.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
Simultaneously real and unreal, the dead are people, yet they are not. The society of medieval Europe developed a rich set of imaginative traditions about death and the afterlife, using the dead as a ...
More
Simultaneously real and unreal, the dead are people, yet they are not. The society of medieval Europe developed a rich set of imaginative traditions about death and the afterlife, using the dead as a point of entry for thinking about the self, regeneration, and loss. These macabre preoccupations are evident in the widespread popularity of stories about the returned dead, who interacted with the living both as disembodied spirits and as living corpses or revenants. This book explores this extraordinary phenomenon of the living's relationship with the dead in Europe during the five hundred years after the year 1000. The book considers both Christian and pagan beliefs, showing how certain traditions survived and evolved over time, and how attitudes both diverged and overlapped through different contexts and social strata. It shows that the intersection of Christian eschatology with various pagan afterlife imaginings brought new cultural values about the dead into the Christian fold as Christianity spread across Europe. Indeed, the Church proved surprisingly open to these influences, absorbing new images of death and afterlife in unpredictable fashion. Over time, however, the persistence of regional cultures and beliefs would be counterbalanced by the effects of an increasingly centralized Church hierarchy. Through it all, one thing remained constant: the deep desire in medieval people to bring together the living and the dead into a single community enduring across the generations.Less
Simultaneously real and unreal, the dead are people, yet they are not. The society of medieval Europe developed a rich set of imaginative traditions about death and the afterlife, using the dead as a point of entry for thinking about the self, regeneration, and loss. These macabre preoccupations are evident in the widespread popularity of stories about the returned dead, who interacted with the living both as disembodied spirits and as living corpses or revenants. This book explores this extraordinary phenomenon of the living's relationship with the dead in Europe during the five hundred years after the year 1000. The book considers both Christian and pagan beliefs, showing how certain traditions survived and evolved over time, and how attitudes both diverged and overlapped through different contexts and social strata. It shows that the intersection of Christian eschatology with various pagan afterlife imaginings brought new cultural values about the dead into the Christian fold as Christianity spread across Europe. Indeed, the Church proved surprisingly open to these influences, absorbing new images of death and afterlife in unpredictable fashion. Over time, however, the persistence of regional cultures and beliefs would be counterbalanced by the effects of an increasingly centralized Church hierarchy. Through it all, one thing remained constant: the deep desire in medieval people to bring together the living and the dead into a single community enduring across the generations.
Paul H. Fry
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300126488
- eISBN:
- 9780300145410
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300126488.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century Literature and Romanticism
This chapter explores a widely accepted way of thinking about time both in and out of the romantic tradition: poems strive to resist time. In Harold Bloom's words, he referred to it as “lies against ...
More
This chapter explores a widely accepted way of thinking about time both in and out of the romantic tradition: poems strive to resist time. In Harold Bloom's words, he referred to it as “lies against time.” There are three premises that support this view and make it somewhat plausible and in some way justified. The first premise is that to lie against time is to reject the human experience of death and loss. The second premise states that the promotion of this rejection of death that becomes a motivating force for composing lyric takes place against the background of Christian eschatology. The third premise states that the act of defying time merits a consolation and a degree of confidence in the strength of poetic form in preserving thoughts and ideas. It is this quality of poetry to resist time that is explored further throughout the chapter.Less
This chapter explores a widely accepted way of thinking about time both in and out of the romantic tradition: poems strive to resist time. In Harold Bloom's words, he referred to it as “lies against time.” There are three premises that support this view and make it somewhat plausible and in some way justified. The first premise is that to lie against time is to reject the human experience of death and loss. The second premise states that the promotion of this rejection of death that becomes a motivating force for composing lyric takes place against the background of Christian eschatology. The third premise states that the act of defying time merits a consolation and a degree of confidence in the strength of poetic form in preserving thoughts and ideas. It is this quality of poetry to resist time that is explored further throughout the chapter.
