Heaven: Divine Dullness?
A Catholic News Service piece from Jan 19 raises an interesting question: how does our image of heaven affect our eagerness to preach the Gospel and persevere as disciples?
Divine dullness: Usual images of heaven don't impress Christians
" . . .an Italian biblicist, Father Carlo Buzzetti, has approached the question from a different angle: The modern church, he said, does a lousy job imagining what heaven is like and communicating it to the faithful. Most Catholics, Father Buzzetti said, understand heaven as a vague place of eternal survival, where happiness can become monotonous and where the absence of human passions creates an "anemic" atmosphere. In other words, boring. And if heaven is seen as a dull routine of perpetual bliss, how can it possibly stimulate people to live a good and moral life in this world? Father Buzzetti posed the questions in a long article in a recent issue of Italian Clergy Review. He based his analysis on extensive discussions with pastors, who told him the traditional images of heaven -- a vision of God, a banquet or eternal repose -- were making little or no impression on modern Christians. "
Is this just an Italian phenomena? What gives? Is it because our lives in the west are affluent and protected in a way that previous generations did not know? Or is something else at work?
What is the most compelling image of heaven you have encountered and how does it affect (or not) your desire to live as an intentional disciple now?
One of my favorites is from St. Thomas More:
"There is no sorrow on earth that heaven cannot heal."
posted by Sherry W @ 7:56 AM
13 Comments
Links to this post
13 Comments:
Part of the reason is that modern Catholics (pardon me for using that term) are badly educated in Church history and theology. Early Christians used the eternal banquet as an image of heaven in their paintings and on sarcophagi because it had Eucharistic references, as well as references to the deceased.
Some Early Christian exegetes, like Evagrius Ponticus, envisioned heaven as pure light, which is my own favorite concept.
As to modern people's notions of traditiona Christian images and motifs being "boring," all I can say is that they do not appreciate the Mass, which is the nexus between Heaven and Earth. Images and motifs are there to give us a foretaste of Heaven, which the Mass provides us with the presence of the living God. Images are also essentially connected to the Incarnation, a reminder of the inherent dignity of matter.
Protestant theology, with its proscription of images (of heaven or otherwise), is less able to appreciate images of Heaven. The secularized, Protestantized culture into which most of us have been dragged is probably most responsible for the current bias against such "boring" images; that, and a lack of imagination.
This thread made me think of the old Talking Heads song:
"Heaven
Heaven is a place
A place where nothing
Nothing ever happens"
Imagine a body of thinking members. ~Pascal
Gregory of Nyssa: "hose who run toward the Lord will never lack space [...] One who is climbing never stops, he moves from beginning to beginning, according to beginnings that never end."
Just some random thoughts...
Why don't the traditional images work? Let's see, a) the banquet: Most people in the western church are fed. In ancient times, hunger was a bigger deal. Not that it is not now, yet I sense the banquet would go over better in sub-Saharan African than in Queens, NY. Image b) eternal rest. I think it is safe to say that western people have more leisure time and less physically stressful work than previous generations. If I were a farmer 100 years ago, eternal rest would be a god-send. But I am not, I sit at a computer all day. Image c) the Vision of God. This is easy. Paraphrasing my archdiocesan catechist training course teacher, "We can't really do justice to God with words. All we really have are human constructs. Nobody really knows who God is." Modern theology and catechesis have done a great job obscuring the person of God and making Him a construct of the individuals imagination. Why on earth would I be excited to meet a God who is really just a glorified version of me? Heaven is boring to modern Christians because we are boring.
I had a conversation with my son (3 years old) the other day about heaven. He wanted to know if there were balls there. I told him that I was sure Jesus would have lots of fun things for him to do -- maybe even balls. He heartily responded, "I BELIEVE YOU, DADDY!!!" My son found it a very compelling vision of heaven. I think we could learn a lot from that.
For myself, I find the most consolation in knowing that I will finally see Jesus face-to-face. On a purely human level, the fact that I "know" him but have no physical contact with him is extremely frustrating. Drawing close in the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, is consoling; yet I still constantly desire more than this. That "constant desire for more" is what heaven will fulfill.
I also find very compelling parallels between natural birth and death (i.e birth into heaven via the Church). When we were in our mother's wombs, we were not seen nor did we see beyond the small space we inhabited. The world of the womb was all we knew. A newborn baby is only truly seen and known after birth. Until then, a real part of their identity is veiled. A child in the womb's experience of the outside world is limited -- muffled sounds and the movements of a mother. If one could ask a child in the womb to describe the world outside the womb, the answer could never measure up to the reality. Conversely, how would one adequately describe the outside world to a child in the womb? I think St. Paul would probably tell a child in the womb, "Eye has not seen, nor has ear heard..."
Likewise, we on earth experience a limited sense of the "outside" world that is eternity. The Church is our mother and we are in Her womb. We sense heaven through a veil much like a baby in the womb senses the outside world. Further, as a baby is only fully seen as who they are after birth, likewise the we are only revealed for who we are after our birth into eternal life. As the newborn baby "sees" and experiences the larger world they were always a part of while in the womb, so to does the disciple of Christ see and experience the larger world they were always a part of while here on earth. Last thought, when does a baby first behold their father face-to-face? Only after birth! See?
These birth analogies help me contextualize my life now as follows: 1) I realize that I do not nor will not know everything at this time; 2) I am a work in progress, growing in the womb; 3) Discernment is crucial. The information I am getting from outside of the womb (i.e. eternity) is muffled. I don't want to jump to conclusions based on my limited senses. 4) the suffering I experience is akin to labor pains -- there is a purpose, a very good purpose for them; 5) Death is not an end, it is a birth. Painful, but a necessary and good thing.
Hmmm... some of the above comments don't indicate much joy in the prospect of heaven. I, for one, am looking forward to Heaven, as being a wonderful place where sorrow and mourning will cease, and where we will be in the presence of the Lord. The book of Revelation says that God will guide us to springs of the water of life, and He will wipe away every tear. What's not to like?
As far as obeying God goes, my motivation for obedience isn't primarily the prospect of Heaven. It's because I just love the Lord and want what He wants. Heaven is just the ultimate "icing on the cake"!
The last of the Narnia Chronicles, at the end. "Farther up and further in"
Great Article! Thank You!
Thanks to author! I like articles like this, very interesting.
nice blog!
:-) ochen\' zaebatyj blog!
nice blog!Nice information
Keep up the great work. It very impressive. Enjoyed the visit!
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home