Lecture notes
Self, Death and the Afterlife
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- AQA
Religious Studies AQA A Level. Complete Year 1 Christianity notes.
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Self, death and the afterlifeMeaning and purpose of life
- For Christians, the meaning and purpose of life might include:
o To glorify God and to have a personal relationship with him. We are made in God’s
image, so our purpose if to reflect God’s glory with our lives and actions.
o To prepare for judgement. Genesis shows that the relationship between God and
humanity was broken, Jesus died to atone for human sin and judgement at the end
of time will complete the fixing of this relationship.
o To bring about God’s Kingdom on Earth. Some Christians see the hope of
establishing God’s Kingdom as the end goal, while others see it as a present reality,
thinking it is possible to establish the qualities of God’s Kingdom on Earth.
Resurrection
Resurrection is the defining feature of Christian belief.
Resurrection of the Body:
Augustine said that the flesh is needed so that both the spiritual and
physical effects of sin can be removed.
He assumes from the Gospels that Jesus’ resurrection was physical.
Resurrection of the Spirit:
Influenced by Plato’s dualistic philosophy, where a person’s soul is housed in
a physical body. St Paul supports the idea of spiritual resurrection when he
says what is sown a physical body, is raised a spiritual body.
1 Corinthians 15:42-44 and 5—54 is about Paul’s response to doubt of
resurrection after death. It is important because it was written only 20-25
years after Jesus’ death.
Judgement, Heaven, Hell and Purgatory
Some understand these as physical. The reality of pain in the era before anaesthetics made
the idea of physical punishment a likely one. Also, the bodily suffering of Jesus on the cross
was real, so the idea of physical punishment for sin is natural.
Others understand these as spiritual realities, in which suffering might be seen as spiritual
loss, such as permanent separation from God.
For many Liberal Christians, these are perhaps psychological realities, generated by the
mind. Therefore, ‘heaven’ might be a life of peace and contentment.
Process theologians generally reject any idea of subject immorality. Since God exists
panentheistically which the physical universe, God is both mental and physical experience.
When we die, we stay as a real and permanent object in the mind of God.
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