Scripture provided no clear view on the matter. The parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus [Luke 16] shows a rich man being damned to Hell while Lazarus goes to Abraham’s bosom, a term for heaven. John’s gospel speaks of eternal life being granted to believers now, but it still talks of the Age to Come. What is significantly lacking is any mention of heaven being human’s true home, a claim that is standard to many preachers. There was not enough for there to be a clear answer to the question.

One line in Scripture was significant. The letter to the Hebrews (9:27) says that man is appointed once to die and afterwards to face judgment. It is on the basis of this single line, written not by Paul, but probably Apollos, that the church has argued for its rejection of reincarnation, though many early Christians accepted reincarnation, so they did not interpret it literally.This rejection of reincarnation meant that Christians had to envisage that humans achieve their eternal destiny after death.

Therefore the current belief that on death we go to Heaven or Hell arises from this belief that humans do not return after death.The temporary destiny of the soul before the Parousia (second coming) was still subject to disagreement. Some Christians, for example Justin Martyr, resolved the issue by believing that death is a sleep that ends with the awakening at the Parousia; others, however, wanted continued consciousness in heaven, and heaven won out in the popular consciousness. Gnostic Christians argued for reincarnation, and some orthodox Christians agreed with them.

The Disappearance of Reincarnation

Clement of Alexandria, one of the Egyptian church’s greatest scholars, promoted the idea that God sends souls back to earth until they are ready for him. Clement’s student Origen, took the view further with the doctrine of apocatastasis, which postulated that the world was cyclic and souls return once in a cycle, bearing with them their moral successes as strengths, and their failures as weaknesses, until they are spiritually pure enough to go to God.

Synesius, another Egyptian, believed that souls descend from heaven, and if they do not quickly return, they are doomed to wander long in the nether regions. Reincarnation fell officially out of use in 553, after the Second Council of Constantinople. The council was opposed to the Origenists, who believed that after many incarnations a person could become equal to Christ. This belief, for orthodox Christians, was not possible, so to eliminate this heretical view, the council declared that the belief in the pre-existence of the soul was anathema, or condemned. Without the pre-existence of the soul, reincarnation is impossible, so the idea of reincarnation fell quickly out of theology after this.

The Influence of Augustine

During the fifth century, Augustine promoted the idea that humans are cursed by sin inherited from Adam, and deserve Hell. This he linked to a belief that God predestines people to heaven, leaving others to be condemned. This was not unjust, he believed, as we are all under the curse of Adam. Entry to salvation was exclusive to the baptised, so according to this stark view even unbaptised babies went to Hell. Augustine’s view was a novelty, as this was not the teaching of the early church. He was, however, politically influential in his own time and theologically influential throughout the later centuries. Augustine also believed in a state of cleansing, called purgatory (see below).

Eastern Christians Had Other Ideas

In Catholic Christianity, the ideas of Limbo and Purgatory were upheld (Protestants accept neither concept). The Christian mind struggled with Augustine’s harshness, so many Christians accepted the idea of Limbo. In the fourth century, Gregory Nazianus, one of the great Cappadocian fathers, accepted that without baptism there could be no entry to heaven; however, he also considered that Hell’s punishments could not be fairly meted to infants, so there was an extra state known as Limbo for these unfortunates. Even Augustine accepted that the punishments of infants in Hell would be the mildest. Some thought that there was also a limbo for the good pagans who died not knowing Christ, but Augustine’s followers condemned these to Hell.

Purgatory was another belief that arose in the early years and became established doctrine in the eleventh century. The Roman Catholic catechism states:

“All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven. The Church gives the name purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned” (Catechism 1030–1)

While Jesus never mentioned it, early Christians realised that some people who repented their sins still had quite a lot of guilt, and some punishment was appropriate for them. Origen, whose views changed at times in his life, thought that if a soul went to God with light faults, these would be burned away in a purifying fire. Augustine teaches that prayer for the dead is necessary.

“The time  between the death of a man and the final resurrection holds the soul in a hidden retreat, according as each is deserving of rest or of hardship, in view of what it merited when it was living in the flesh. Nor can it be denied that the souls of the dead find relief through the piety of their friends and relatives who are still alive, when the Mass is offered for them, or when alms are given in the Church.”  Augustine Handbook on Faith 29:109

Purgatory was a doctrine that simply grew out of the widespread practice, attested in inscriptions in the catacombs, of praying for the dead, which would be unnecessary for those in Heaven or Hell.

Eastern Christians disagreed with their Western fellows, preferring to see purgatory as a time of reflection, rather than purifying fire.

Hick’s Replica Theory

Hick supports Irenean Theodicy in the sense that he believes the body and soul are one unified whole. This is also the view of Aristotle in the ancient world.

Hick argues that the soul doesn’t separate from the body at death, rather the body lives after death as a replica or a duplicate. The replica comes to life in heaven as an exact copy of the person who lived and died on earth. God creates this replica to live on after death. Hick uses the replica theory as a thought experiment that goes by distinct stages:

1. Imagine that ‘John Smith’, who lives in America, suddenly disappears and an exact replica of John Smith appears in India. This replica is exact in every detail, including memory and emotion. The replica thinks of himself as being the John Smith who disappeared in the USA. His friends (who are naturally skeptical) carry out a series of tests, and are forced to conclude that this indeed is John Smith despite the problem of his mysterious disappearance.

2. Hick  asks us to imagine that instead of disappearing, John Smith dies, and at that exact moment a replica appears in India. Even with Smith’s body in the mortuary we would be forced to conclude that the replica is John Smith – we would have to admit that he had been miraculously recreated in another place.

3. Hick asks us to imagine that when John Smith dies, his replica is created on another world altogether. This world occupies its own separate space. It is a ‘Resurrection World’ populated by resurrected persons:

“It is not situated at any distance or in any direction from the objects in our present world, although each object in either world is spatially related to every other object in the same world.” John Hick Philosophy of Religion 1973:101

Hick argued that if we can accept that this is in some way logically possible, then it is also logically possible for John Smith to die and a replica of him to appear in some place inhabited by resurrected beings, and therefore for life after death to be a meaningful concept. God is omnipotent, and so this is possible.

Hick claims the support of orthodox Christianity for his theory in t he writings of St Paul: “

Not all flesh is alike, but there is one flesh for human beings, another for animals, another for birds and another for fish. There are both heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one thing, and that of the earth is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; indeed, star differs from star in glory. So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable.”  1 Corinthians 15:39-41

In answer to the question whether any post-mortem existence can be verified, John Hick responds with the principle of eschatological verification: he envisages two travellers walking down a road, one of whom believes it leads to the Celestial City, and one who believes that there is no final destination. Which one of them is right will not be verified until they reach the end of the road, although their particular positions will have a vital influence on the manner in which they experience and interpret what happens to them along the way.

Hick’s Vale of Soul-Making

Inspired by the thoughts of Saint Irenaeus of Lyons (120-200), Hick interprets Irenaeus’ understanding of human nature to propose the idea that God created a spiritually, morally and intellectually immature humanity, set at an ‘epistemic’ distance (a knowledge gap) from God. Although imperfect, humanity has nevertheless been granted the ability to evolve in these traits over time, so as to ensure personal authenticity  as he or she embarks on a process of moral and intellectual development that will ultimately conclude with spiritual union with God. Crucially, Hick goes on to postulate that in specific instances along this journey, experiences of evil and suffering can, too, contribute to an individual’s intellectual and spiritual development (an overall process which Hick calls ‘soul-making’).

According to Hick’s ‘soul-making’ theodicy, the role assigned to what he might refer to as the ‘post-mortem intermediate state’ (a purgatorial state after death) is not primarily the removal of sins ill-effects,  but rather as a further opportunity for a person (indeed, Hick believes that this is an opportunity granted to every person) to continue – and ultimately conclude – his or her unique journey of spiritual, intellectual and moral development.

Thus, within a soul-making context, the notion of a post-mortem process of “sanctification” and personal transcendence of sin’s ill-effects is effectively extended – not just to serious sinners, but to victims of life and circumstance as well. Moreover, by including in his consideration the total development of the human person – historical, environmental, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual – Hick’s proposed understanding of a ‘soul-making’ intermediate state effectively sheds new light onto how the post-mortem dynamics of sanctification can be approached within a Catholic context.

Hick’s confident assertion is that through the intermediate state, every person will be saved, (a doctrine we call “universalism”) Hick maintains that the integrity of his soul-making theodicy can only remain intact if every instance of evil is decisively responded to by God’s divine love; thus, the intermediate state becomes for him a crucial vehicle through which the process of this response takes place, inevitably leading to an understanding of universal salvation. While such a view is certainly attractive in some respects, it undeniably extends beyond the parameters of the role assigned to the doctrine of purgatory within the Catholic tradition. Thus, this basic conceptual difference must also be emphasised.  (Matthew Hendzel form a PHD thesis 2019)

Christianity and the Afterlife

When the Second Coming didn’t happen quickly enough, the early Church began to examine ideas about what might happen after death. From belief in purgatory to limbo, early Christians developed new belief systems to account for questions about the afterlife. We can summarise these view as three:

1. A general resurrection at the second coming, with souls ‘asleep’ until then. This was the view of Justin Martyr.
2. A period of purgatorial cleansing (Roman Catholic) or purgatorial reflection (eastern orthodox) followed by a resurrection at the last day. For example, both Irenaeus (130-202) and Origen (185-254) argue for a state of purification rather than ‘soul sleep’. Augustine (354-430) clearly teaches a state of purgatory (see above).
3. A separation of souls and bodies at death, with the soul going straight to be with God. Eternal life in this view is a spiritual state, rather than a physical reality. This seems to be in line with the teaching of John’s gospel (cAD 90) that eternal life begins at the moment the believer receives Christ.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” “He who hears my word, and believes him that sent me, has eternal life, and comes not into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”
John 3:16 John 5:24

Frank Beswick

source

Matthew Hendzel on Hick source

Resources

Robert Appleton. The Catholic Encyclopaedia. (1907-1912). New York.

Hick, John on Resurrection

Hick, John Evil and the God of Love on soul-making (page 336-339)

McGrath, Alistair.The Christian Theology Reader. (1997). Blackwell.

MacGregor, Geddes. Reincarnation in Christianity. (4th Edition, 1989). Theosophical Publishing House.

Tillich, Paul. A History of Christian Thought. (1968). Touchstone.