What Is Eschatology? Eschatology (from the Greek έσχατος, “last, ultimate, end” and logy, teaching), simply translated as “discourse about the last things,” generally reflects the quest for an ultimate human purpose on the individual and the cosmic levels. The driving force of seeking answers to such a twofold human purpose is confirmed by the two...
Hell In Catholicism (The Catholic Encyclopedia) This subject is treated under eight headings: Name and Place of Hell Existence of Hell Eternity of Hell Impenitence of the Damned Poena Damni Poena Sensus Accidental Pains of the Damned Characteristics of the Pains of Hell Name and place of hell The term hell is...
What Is Afterlife? The afterlife, or life after death, is a generic term referring to the continuation of existence after death, typically spiritual, experiential, or ghost-like, beyond this world. While in this life, people ask the questions: Is death the end, or is there something of people that survives after death? What kind of existence will one have...
Hell In many world religions, the concept of Hell refers to a literal or symbolic place (or sometimes an existential condition) of damnation where the wicked and unrighteous are punished for their transgressions. The concept of hell is prevalent in many religions although its exact description varies from one religion to another. In traditional...
Veneration Of The Dead The veneration of the dead, including one’s ancestors, is based on love and respect for the deceased. In some cultures, it is related to beliefs that the dead have a continued existence, and may possess the ability to influence the fortune of the living. Some groups venerate their direct, familial ancestors....
How Can We Save Our Lives In The Hereafter? Being assaulted by the deceptive, seductive amusements of the present time, a group of young people were asking: “How can we save our lives in the Hereafter?” The grave is there and no one can deny it. Whether they want to...
Belief In The Afterlife In Non-Islamic Societies This article covers Belief In The Afterlife In Non-Islamic Societies. The universality of religious beliefs, including some kind of existence after death, is generally admitted by modern anthropologists. Some exceptions have been claimed to exist; but on closer scrutiny the provided evidence breaks...
Benefits Of Belief In The Resurrection After belief in God, belief in the Resurrection has the primary place in securing a peaceful social order. Why should those who do not believe that they will be called to account strive to live an honest, upright life? But those of us who...
A’raf (Araf) A’raf (الأعراف) is the Muslim separator realm or borderland between heaven and hell, inhabited by the people who are evenly balanced in their sins and virtues. This place may be described as a kind of beneficent purgatory with privation but without suffering. The word is literally translated as...
Afterlife In Ancient Religions This article covers Afterlife in Ancient Religions. The concept of resurrection is found in the writings of some ancient non-Abrahamic religions in the Middle East. A few extant Egyptian and Canaanite writings allude to dying and rising gods such as Osiris and Baal. Sir James Frazer...
Naraka In Jainism This article covers Naraka in Jainism. Naraka (नरक) is the realm of existence in Jain cosmology characterized by great suffering. Naraka is usually translated into English as “hell” or “purgatory“. However, Naraka differs from the hells of Abrahamic religions as souls are not sent to Naraka as...
Naraka In Buddhism This article covers Naraka in Buddhism. Naraka (नरक; निरय Niraya) is a term in Buddhist cosmology usually referred to in English as “hell” (or “hell realm”) or “purgatory“. The Narakas of Buddhism are closely related to diyu, the hell in Chinese mythology. A Naraka differs from the hell of Christianity...
Purgatory: Rabbinic Views This article covers Rabbinic Views of Purgatory. An intermediate state through which souls are to pass in order to be purified from sin before they are admitted into the heavenly paradise. The belief in purgatory, fundamental with the Roman Catholic Church, is based by the Church authorities...
Barzakh Barzakh designates a place between hell and heaven, where the soul resides after death, and experiences its own heaven or hell, until the resurrection on Qiyamah (Judgement Day). In Islamic eschatology, although largely up to interpretation, al-Barzakh is generally viewed as the barrier between the physical and spiritual worlds. Barzakh may, according to Ghazali, also be...
What Is Limbo? Limbo, (Late Latin limbus) a word of Teutonic derivation, meaning literally “hem” or “border,” as of a garment, or anything joined on (cf. Italian lembo or English limb). In theological usage the name is applied to (a) the temporary place or state of the souls of the just who, although purified from sin, were...
Christian Views On Hades This article covers Christian Views on Hades. Hades, according to various Christian denominations, is “the place or state of departed spirits“, also known as Hell, borrowing the name of the Greek god of the underworld. In New Testament Greek, the Hebrew phrase “לא־תעזב נפשׁי לשׁאול” (you will not abandon my soul...
Sheol She’ol (שְׁאוֹל Šəʾōl), in the Hebrew Bible, is a place of darkness to which all the dead go, both the righteous and the unrighteous, regardless of the moral choices made in life, a place of stillness and darkness cut off from life and from God. The inhabitants of Sheol are the...
Limbo In Catholic theology, Limbo (Latin limbus, edge or boundary, referring to the “edge” of Hell) is a doctrine concerning the afterlife condition of those who die in original sin without being assigned to the Hell of the Damned. Medieval theologians of western Europe described the underworld (“hell“, “hades”, “infernum”) as divided...
Intermediate State In some forms of Christian eschatology, the intermediate state or interim state is a person’s “intermediate” existence between one’s death and the universal resurrection. In addition, there are beliefs in a particular judgment right after death and a general judgement or last judgment after the resurrection. Christians looked for an imminent end...
What Is Purgatory? A Catholic doctrine Purgatory (Lat., “purgare”, to make clean, to purify) in accordance with Catholic teaching is a place or condition of temporal punishment for those who, departing this life in God’s grace, are, not entirely free from venial faults, or have not fully paid the satisfaction due to their transgressions. The faith of the Church concerning purgatory...