Confusion in Traditional Christian Options About ‘The Life of the World to Come’

Abstract

Behind every literature in the world, whether it be accounted ‘sacred’ or ‘profane’ lies a cultural ancestry and a history of ideas. The New Testament, which is that part of early Christian literature that came to be recognized by the Church c. AD 200 as canonical, that is, regular and ecclesiastically approved, is no exception. Not only were all the New Testament writers steeped in the outlook of their Jewish heritage; Jesus, the focus of their testimony as of their lives, was thoroughly grounded in the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings that together make up what Christians call the Old Testament. He habitually alluded to it and often quoted from it. This literary heritage was not only remarkably complex in the sense that it had passed through centuries of editorial development; it was also expressive of a variety of points of view. Its components ranged from classical elements that had emerged in an ancient period, when life was simple and ideas were both primitive and parochial, to comparatively recent elements such as the book of Daniel and those writings that modern scholars recognize as part of what they call the Wisdom literature. This later part of the Old Testament reflects foreign influences and a broader outlook than could have been possible for an isolated society such as that of the ancient Hebrews.

Good Master, what must I do win eternal (aiōnios) life? Mark 10.17 (NEB)