Icons of Hope

John E. Thiel

Description

In Icons of Hope: The “Last Things” in Catholic Imagination, John Thiel, one of the most influential Catholic theologians today, argues that modern theologians have been unduly reticent in their writing about “last things”: death, judgment, heaven, and hell. Beholden to a historical-critical standard of interpretation, they often have been reluctant to engage in eschatological reflection that takes the doctrine of the “last things” seriously as real events that Christians are obliged to imagine meaningfully and to describe with some measure of faithful coherence. Modern theology’s religious pluralism leaves room for a speculative style of interpretation that issues in icons of hope—theological portraits of resurrected life that can inform and inspire the life of faith.

Icons of Hope presents an interpretation of heavenly life, the Last Judgment, and the communion of the saints that is shaped by a view of the activity of the blessed dead consistent with Christian belief in the resurrection of the body, namely, the view that the blessed dead in heaven continue to be eschatologically engaged in the redemptive task of forgiveness. Thiel offers a revision of the traditional Catholic imaginary regarding judgment and life after death that highlights the virtuous actions of all the saints in their heavenly response to the vision of God. These constructive efforts are fostered by Thiel’s conclusions on the disappearance of the concept of purgatory in large segments of contemporary Catholic belief, a disappearance attributable to the emergence of a noncompetitive spirituality in postconciliar Catholicism, which has eclipsed the kinds of religious sensibilities that made belief in purgatory a practice in earlier centuries. This noncompetitive spirituality—one that recovers traditional Pauline sensibilities on the gratuitousness of grace—encourages an eschatological imaginary of mutual, ongoing forgiveness in the communion of the saints in this life and in the life to come.

Sujets

• Philosophie
• Philosophie de la religion
• Religion
• Christianisme
• Christian Theology
• Religious
• PHILOSOPHY
• Philosophie et théologie
• Last Judgment
• General officer
• Eschatology
• Christianity
• General
• Pauline
• Paul

Informations

• Publié par: University of Notre Dame Press
• Date de parution: 30 septembre 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9780268093785
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 7 Mo

Extrait

Icons of Hope

J O H N E . T H I E L

Icons of Hope

The “Last Things” in Catholic Imagination

J O H N E . T H I E L

. University of Notre Dame Press Notre Dame, Indiana

Copyright © 2013 by Universit y of Notre Dame Notre Dame, Indiana 46556 www.undpress.nd.edu All Rights Reserved

Sections of chapters 1 and 2 appeared originally as “For What May We Hope? Thoughts on the Eschatological Imagination,” Theological Studies67 (September 2006): 517– 41. ©Theological Studies.

Chapter 3 appeared originally as “Time, Judgment, and Competitive Spiritualit y: A Reading of the Development of the Doctrine of Purgatory,” Theological Studies69 ( December 2008): 741–85. ©Theological Studies.

Manufactured in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Thiel, John E. Icons of hope : the “last things” in Catholic imagination / John E. Thiel. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-268-04239-4 ( pbk. : alk. paper) — ISBN 0-268-04239-X ( pbk. : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-268-09378-5 (e-book) 1. Eschatology. 2. Catholic Church — Doctrines. I. Title. BT821.3.T44 2013 236 — dc23 2013022549

∞The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durabilityoftheCommitteeonProductionGuidelinesforBookLongevity of the Council on Library Resources

For D O R O T H E A

Ancora una volta

C O N T E N T S

C H A P T E R 1

C H A P T E R 2

C H A P T E R 3

C H A P T E R 4

C H A P T E R 5

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgments

ix

xi

For What May We Hope? Thoughts on the Eschatological Imagination

Imagining the Life of the Blessed Dead

25

Time, Judgment, and Competitive Spiritualit y: A Reading of the Development of the Doctrine of Purgatory57

Imagining the Last Judgment

107

Forgiveness in the Communion of the Saints: Eschatology in a Noncompetitive Key153

Notes

Index

189

217

1

I L L U S T R A T I O N S

Gallery of figures begins following page 106.

Figure 1.Christ in Majest y.Last Judgmentmosaic (13th–14th c.). Bap- tistery of San Giovanni, Florence. Photo © DeA Picture Library/Art Resource, NY.

Figure 2. Last Judgmentfresco, Giorgio Vasari (1511–74) and Federico Zuccari (ca. 1540/41–1609). Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, Flor- ence. Photo: Scala/Art Resource, NY.

Figure 3.Detail of the Damned,Last Judgmentfresco, Giorgio Vasari and Federico Zuccari. Basilica di Santa Maria del F iore, Florence. Photo: Nicolo Orsi Battaglini/Art Resource, NY.

Figure 4. Last Judgmentmosaic (11th c.). Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, Torcello, Italy. Photo: Alinari/Art Resource, NY.

Figure 5. Last Judgmentfresco, Giotto di Bondone (1266 –1336). Scro- vegni Chapel, Padua, Italy. Photo: Scala/Art Resource, NY.

Figure 6. Last Judgmentfresco, 1538 Michelangelo Buonarrotti– 41, (1475–1564). Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museums and Galleries, Vatican Cit y. Photo: Alinari/ The Bridgeman Art Library.

ix