Eschatology: Death and the Eternal Life (Second Edition)

Front Cover
Originally published in English in 1988, Joseph Ratzinger's Eschatology remains internationally recognized as a leading text on the "last things"—heaven and hell, purgatory and judgment, death and the immortality of the soul. This highly anticipated second edition includes a new preface by Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI and a supplement to the bibliography by theologian Peter A. Casarella. Eschatology presents a balanced perspective of the doctrine at the center of Christian belief—the Church's faith in eternal life. Recognizing the task of contemporary eschatology as "to marry perspectives, so that person and community, present and future, are seen in their unity," Joseph Ratzinger brings together recent emphasis on the theology of hope for the future with the more traditional elements of the doctrine. His book has proven to be as timeless as it is timely.

 

Contents

Part One The Eschatological Problem
17
The Meaning of Jesus Proclamation
24
The Expectation of an Imminent
35
Word and Reality in Contemporary
46
Part Two Death and Immortality
67
The Development of the Question
80
Some Conclusions on the Ethos of Death
101
The Biblical Data
112
The Resurrection of the Dead and
165
Hell Purgatory Heaven
215
Afterword to the English Edition
261
Notes
275
Select Bibliography
291
Index of Names
299
Index of References
305
Copyright

The Documents of the Churchs
132

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