In Christian eschatology, particular judgment is the doctrine that immediately after death the eternal destiny of each separated soul is decided by the just judgment of God, even if the full effect of the judgement will be brought about later, perhaps only at the Last Judgment, when body and soul are reunited in the resurrection of the dead.
Contrary doctrines hold that the soul sleeps unconsciously until the General Judgment or that it is annihilated at death, to be recreated on Judgment Day.
Particular judgment in the Bible
Ecclesiastes 11:9; 12:1 sq.; and Hebrews 9:27, are sometimes quoted in proof of the particular judgment, but though these passages speak of a judgment after death, neither the context nor the force of the words proves that the sacred writer had in mind a judgment distinct from that at the end of the world. The scriptural arguments in defence of the particular judgment must be indirect. There is no text of which we can certainly say that it expressly affirms this dogma but there are several which teach an immediate retribution after death and thereby clearly imply a particular judgment. Christ represents Lazarus and Dives as receiving their respective rewards immediately after death. They have always been regarded as types of the just man and the sinner. To the penitent thief it was promised that his soul instantly on leaving the body would be in the state of the blessed: "This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise" (Luke 23:43). Saint Paul (II Corinthians 5) longs to be absent from the body that he may be present to the Lord, evidently understanding death to be the entrance into his reward (cf. Philemon 1:21 sq.).
Early Christian writing
The Testament of Abraham includes a clear account of particular judgment, in which souls go either through the wide gate of destruction or the narrow gate of salvation. By this account, only one in seven thousand earn salvation.
Hippolytus of Rome pictured a particular judgment of souls in Hades, by which the righteous are assigned to "a locality full of light" and the unrighteous are "forc(ed) down into the lower parts".[1].
Tertullian (c. AD 200) wrote that, even before final judgment, a soul "undergoes punishment and consolation in Hades in the interval, while it awaits its alternative of judgment, in a certain anticipation either of gloom or of glory"[2]
Saint Augustine wrote that the righteous dead would rest "in the secret receptacles and abodes of disembodied spirits,"[3] awaiting Judgment Day. Centuries later, Thomas Aquinas argued[citation needed] that Augustine's teaching was nevertheless consistent with particular judgment.
Medieval concepts
In the supplement to the Summa Theologiae, a disciple of Thomas Aquinas argued that the soul departs for heaven or hell immediately on death, "unless it be held back by some debt, for which its flight must needs be delayed until the soul is first of all cleansed."[4]
From about 1300, the term "Limbo of Infants" was forged for the notion that souls of unbaptized infants went to a particular place where they enjoyed natural happiness, but not the beatific vision. Gehenna (one of the terms used for hell proper), Limbo of the Fathers, Limbo of Infants, and Purgatory were all pictured as areas within "Hades" or "Hell" (infernus, literally underworld), places where one was at least temporarily removed from God.
In 1336, Benedict XII (Pope 1334-1342) issued the Bull "Benedictus Deus," establishing particular judgment as dogma. His predecessor, Pope John XXII (Pope 1316-1334), had denied that the dead saw God (the beatific vision before Judgment Day.
Reformation concepts
Martin Luther argued that the dead sleep unconsciously until Judgment Day. In response, John Calvin argued that the dead are conscious while awaiting Judgment Day, either in bliss or torment depending on their fate.[5]
Particular judgment in other religions
In his Myth of Er, Plato (c. 400 BC) wrote that each soul is judged after death and either sent to heaven for a reward or to the underworld for punishment. After its reward or punishment, the soul is reincarnated. He also described the judgment of souls immediately after death in the Gorgias.
According to the 9th century Zoroastrian text Dadestan-i Denig ("Religious Decisions"), a soul is judged three days after death. Depending on the soul's balance of good and bad deeds, it goes to heaven, hell, or hamistagan, a neutral place. In its appropriate place, the soul awaits Judgment Day.
In Islam, the angels Nakir and Munkar interrogate a recently deceased soul, which then remains in its grave in a state of bliss or torment until Judgment Day.
See also
References
- ^ http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0520.htm Against Plato, On the Cause of the Universe,] 1
- ^ A Treatise on the Soul, Chapter 58
- ^ New Advent: City of God - That the Nature of the Angels, Both Good and Bad, is One and the Same, retrieved on Dec 11, 2006
- ^ Summa Theologiae, Supplement, q. 69, art. 2]]
- ^ http://www.godrules.net/library/calvin/142calvin_c9.htm Pyschopannychia]
External links
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public ___domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
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