Heaven and Philosophy by Simon Cushing

Author:Simon Cushing
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lexington Books, a division of Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.

Jesus is adapting a motif common to various preexisting folk tales, not to teach anything about the afterlife, but to instead reiterate the importance of lovingly caring for the less fortunate and being faithful with the material wealth given to us by God—the overall theme of chapter 16 as a whole.27

If meant to be interpreted literally, this parable may describe a temporary state that shall itself pass away in the process of the eschatological culmination of the universe.28

It is highly likely that at least one of these possibilities is true, particularly (i) and/or (ii) on both internal and external contextual grounds. If this is the case, then the problem of Lazarus’ Chasm for a homogenous ontology of the afterlife dissolves.

Second, the hermeneutical overlap between hellfire and God’s glory might be shaken by eschatological references to judgment as “outer darkness” (Matt. 8:12, 25:30; Jude 1:13) instead of blazing fire, however, two considerations temper this concern. As with the last parable, as Kim Papaioannou explains, despite the darkness being filled with “weeping and gnashing of teeth,” cues surrounding each of these short references indicates that this parabolic context “is not intended to be a description of hell, but rather underlies the sadness of the loss of the kingdom (of Heaven).”29 Most memorably, Jesus uses this language to contrast the experience of parabolic characters banished from fellowship with a king at a banquet with those still enjoying the king’s presence (Matt. 22:13); if “outer darkness” is the location beyond the firelight of this celebration, then that loss of fellowship would be the extent of the suffering—particularly when the terms for “weeping” and “gnashing of teeth” both indicate passionate outbursts of sorrow and rage based on jealousy, not exclamations in response to physical pain.30 Additionally, if Sim is right that banquet stories like the parable in Matthew 22 are indeed reliant on the Book of Enoch,31 then the full context of that source is enlightening:

And again the Lord said to Raphael: “Bind Azâzêl hand and foot, and cast him into the darkness: and make an opening in the desert, which is in Dûdâêl, and cast him therein. And place upon him rough and jagged rocks, and cover him with darkness, and let him abide there for-ever, and cover his face that he may not see light. And on the day of the great judgement he shall be cast into the fire. (I Enoch 10.4–6a, emphasis added)

Ultimately, if Jesus was speaking to an audience familiar with this story, then it is likely that they would have naturally associated “outer darkness” with flames and the above connection to the fiery παρουσία is reiterated.

The Obdurationist Defense

In one sense, this obdurationist characterization of Heaven and Hell amounts to a modified form of Bawulskian reconciliationism where, “all sinning ceases in the eternal state, and in some sense the reprobate participate in the cosmic reconciliation of all things to God: they are reconciled, not salvifically but in and through punishment.”32 Seeking to chart a path between the twin pillars of

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