Between Death and Resurrection: A Critical Response to Recent Catholic Debate Concerning the Intermediate State

by Stephen Yates

Overview

Christians look with hope to the resurrection of the dead and the restoration of all things. But what of those who have already died? Do they also await these things, or have they in some sense already happened for them? Within the Catholic theological community, this question has traditionally been answered in terms of the disembodied souls of human beings awaiting bodily resurrection. Since the 1960s, Catholic theologians have proposed two alternatives: resurrection at death into the Last Day and the consummation of all things, or resurrection in death into an interim state in which the embodied dead await, with us, the final consummation of all things. This book critically examines the Scriptural, philosophical and theological reasons for these alternatives and, on the basis of this analysis, offers an account of the traditional schema which makes clear that in spite of these challenges it remains the preferable option.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781501312281
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	01/26/2017
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.69(d)

About the Author

Stephen Yates is Programme Director for Catholic Applied Theology at the Maryvale Institute, UK.

Table of Contents

Chapter One: Recent Catholic Debate Concerning the Intermediate State
Chapter Two: Sacred Scripture and the Intermediate State
Chapter Three: The Postmortem State – Atemporal or Nonatemporal?
Chapter Four: The Intermediate State – Maintaining Personal Identity Through Death and Immediate Resurrection
Chapter Five: Philosophical and Theological Objections to the Traditional Schema Addressed
Conclusion
Bibliography

Editorial Reviews

This splendid study is an admirably fair, thorough, and comprehensive account of its crucial if unfashionable subject-matter, and a vindication of the role of a lucid rationality in the service of orthodoxy.” —Aidan Nichols O.P., Blackfriars, Cambridge, UK

“Stephen Yates begins this book by providing a clear account of theological views concerning life after death that are opposed to traditional Roman Catholic thinking. He ends the book by making a very good case for the cogency of the traditional position. Between beginning and ending the book he makes clear why the traditional account accords with both Scripture and common sense. So the book as a whole is a fine discussion of a difficult topic, one to which all theologians concerned with its subject matter should pay attention.” —Brian Davies, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, Fordham University, USA

From the Publisher