{"id":14888,"date":"2015-07-09T04:24:12","date_gmt":"2015-07-09T08:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/?p=14888"},"modified":"2015-07-08T16:31:48","modified_gmt":"2015-07-08T20:31:48","slug":"early-christian-and-medieval-heavens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2015\/07\/early-christian-and-medieval-heavens\/","title":{"rendered":"Early Christian and Medieval Heavens"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Two weeks ago, I began a discussion of Colleen McDannell and Bernhard Lang\u2019s Heaven: A History<\/em>, in which they trace two millennia of Christian ideas about the afterlife. To what extent does human community persist in heaven? Does the hereafter, moreover, take place on earth or in heaven?<\/p>\n

Last time, I discussed M&L\u2019s discussion of biblical understandings<\/a> of death and heaven as found in the Jewish scriptures and New Testament. This week, our focus shifts to early and medieval Christianity.<\/p>\n

M&L begin this section of their book by contrasting the views of Irenaeus (the second-century Bishop of Lyons) and Augustine. Irenaeus lived at a time when Christians faced periodic waves of persecution, violence, and possible martyrdom. M&L suggest that Irenaeus correspondingly \u201clooked to the next world for compensation for the loss of productive life on earth.\u201d Irenaeus coupled a firm belief in the bodily resurrection with belief that Christians would live on a renewed earth during the millennial reign of Christ. (M&L see a link between martyrdom and millenarianism). Irenaeus rejected an allegorical reading of apocalyptic scripture, and he foresaw a new world in which the soil and the Saints enjoyed remarkable fertility and enjoy feasts of remarkable bounty.<\/p>\n

Augustine lived in the fourth and fifth centuries, at a time when Christians feared the Roman Empire\u2019s collapse rather than its power. After an adolescence of indulgence, the converted adult Augustine embraced an ascetic lifestyle. Irenaeus\u2019s idea of an earthly paradise, with fertility and feasts, held little appeal. Instead, in his On Faith and the Creed<\/em>, Augustine spoke of celestial bodies without \u201cflesh and blood.\u201d \u201cEverything must be spiritual,\u201d he wrote. Future happiness did not depend on any sort of human society: \u201cWhoever knows you [God] and others besides, is not happier for knowing them, but is happy for knowing you alone.\u201d For the early adult Augustine, M&L conclude, heaven \u201cwas the continuation of an ascetic retired life. It was a world of immaterial, fleshless souls finding rest and pleasure in God.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later in life, especially in City of God<\/em>, Augustine at least partly revised his views. Certainly, eternal bliss meant the beatific vision of seeing God. Eternity meant an eternity of praise and love of the divine. The idea of the community of saints enjoying God together became more important, though. And those saints could enjoy each other\u2019s company. Augustine became more open to the idea of heavenly family reunions and to the idea of heavenly flesh. Augustine preserved a theocentric heaven, but a heaven in which family and community played roles as well.<\/p>\n

Naturally, the idea that bodies would persist raised all sorts of questions. Would there be sexual differentiation? Yes, said Augustine. Men and women would be in their natural state without shame and without defect. Would there be sex? No. Their bodies would inspire divine praise, not human lust. In this semi-spiritual heaven<\/em>,\u201d as M&L term it, \u201cthe soul united with the flesh in such a way that spirit dominated matter.\u201d These sorts of question persisted into the medieval period and beyond. Would the saints be naked or clothed in robes? Augustine said naked. I hope it\u2019s warm enough for my wife and cool enough for me.<\/p>\n

Depending on their social locations and readings (or hearings) of scripture, Christians might think of the hereafter either in terms of a garden paradise or as the city of New Jerusalem. As European cities gradually developed, the latter idea became more attractive. Also, the desire to be reunited with one\u2019s beloved steadily grew in power and became a fervent hope during the Renaissance.<\/p>\n

\"In<\/a>
In Giotto\u2019s Last Judgment (1306), not all of the saints gaze toward Jesus Christ. Some look at each other. Still, heaven is strictly hierarchical and static.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Medieval Christians frequently did not imagine heaven \u2014 or the heavenly city \u2014 in egalitarian terms. For example, Gerardesca, a thirteenth-century lay member of the Camaldolese order, imagined three primary areas of heaven. Only the Trinity, the Virgin Mary, the choirs of angels, and the holiest saints lived in the city proper. More distinguished saints \u2014 those with greater merit \u2014 lived in seven castles built on mountains surrounding the city. More minor fortresses housed the remainder of the faithful in the vicinity. Gerardesca, explain M&L, \u201cexperienced the new Jerusalem of the book of Revelation as a city-state of thirteenth-century upper Italy.\u201d The idea that there would some sort of hierarchy of heaven was pervasive during these centuries. \u201cThe saints,\u201d asserted the thirteenth-century Albertus Magnus, \u201cwill receive different degrees of clarity according to their different degrees of merit.\u201d Aquinas taught that although all of the blessed would receive the beatific vision, they would \u201cdo so in various degrees.\u201d Many medieval theologians, moreover, removed God to a higher heaven, a higher realm above that in which the blessed would reside.<\/p>\n

There are many other fascinating medieval ideas worthy of discussion. For example, some female nuns and mystics anticipated their heavenly union with their bridegroom. The thirteenth-century Gertrude, who lived in a convent in Saxony, believed that female virgins would gain access \u201cto the celestial bridal chamber.\u201d Some visions of the love between human bride and divine bridegroom were chaste, others more erotic.<\/p>\n

If many medieval theologians anticipated both the beatific vision and the communion of the saints, many Renaissance writers openly looked forward to an eternity of human love. Many such writers maintained heaven\u2019s divine center, but according to M&L, human society gradually assumed a greater focus.<\/p>\n

Some envisioned both a paradise garden and the New Jerusalem, without any sense that the former was a consolation prize for those who did not qualify for the latter. For some writers, the Classical ideal of the Elysian Fields assumed a renewed importance. They looked to Cicero as much as to St. John in describing the afterlife. Paradise would be a place of unbridled love of other people. Heaven also became less hierarchical, more dynamic. \u201cIf the heaven of the Middle Ages is essentially a cone with God at the top,\u201d write M&L, \u201cthen the Renaissance heaven is a box with divine worship going on at the top and a paradise garden at the bottom. The two realms are not isolated from one another, but divine characters can move between the two.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eventually, the pendulum fell back toward a theocentric heaven during the era of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation, but the idea of a heavenly reunion of families, saints, and lovers had gained a foothold in the Christian imagination it would not easily relinquish.<\/p>\n

\"Fra<\/a>
Fra Angelico, The Last Judgment (ca. 1431).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two weeks ago, I began a discussion of Colleen McDannell and Bernhard Lang\u2019s Heaven: A History, in which they trace two millennia of Christian ideas about the afterlife. To what extent does human community persist in heaven? Does the hereafter, moreover, take place on earth or in heaven? Last time, I discussed M&L\u2019s discussion of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1008,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[263,8],"tags":[2458],"class_list":["post-14888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books-2","category-john-turner","tag-heaven"],"yoast_head":"\nEarly Christian and Medieval Heavens<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Two weeks ago, I began a discussion of Colleen McDannell and Bernhard Lang's Heaven: A History, in which they trace two millennia of Christian ideas about\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2015\/07\/early-christian-and-medieval-heavens\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Early Christian and Medieval Heavens\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Two weeks ago, I began a discussion of Colleen McDannell and Bernhard Lang's Heaven: A History, in which they trace two millennia of Christian ideas about\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2015\/07\/early-christian-and-medieval-heavens\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Anxious Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-07-09T08:24:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-07-08T20:31:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/files\/2015\/07\/giotto_loordeel_grt-275x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"johnturner\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"johnturner\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2015\/07\/early-christian-and-medieval-heavens\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2015\/07\/early-christian-and-medieval-heavens\/\",\"name\":\"Early Christian and Medieval Heavens\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-07-09T08:24:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-07-08T20:31:48+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/#\/schema\/person\/976685779e3256328b03af5f2c9d69ca\"},\"description\":\"Two weeks ago, I began a discussion of Colleen McDannell and Bernhard Lang's Heaven: A History, in which they trace two millennia of Christian ideas about\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2015\/07\/early-christian-and-medieval-heavens\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2015\/07\/early-christian-and-medieval-heavens\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/2015\/07\/early-christian-and-medieval-heavens\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Early Christian and Medieval Heavens\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/\",\"name\":\"Anxious Bench\",\"description\":\"The Relevance of Religious History for Today\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/#\/schema\/person\/976685779e3256328b03af5f2c9d69ca\",\"name\":\"johnturner\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/anxiousbench\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f393838d8f979f64dbee7fd63fd8bfdc?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f393838d8f979f64dbee7fd63fd8bfdc?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"johnturner\"},\"description\":\"In the fall of 2012, I will become Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at George Mason University. 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