Thank you for this illuminating piece. I was wondering if you might comment on aspects of the patristic tradition that deny the possibility of repentance after death due to the loss of mutability following the soul's separation from the body. I'm thinking in particular of St. John of Damascus, who in the Exact Exposition states that "what in the case of man is death is a fall in the case of angels. For after the fall there is no possibility of repentance for them, just as after death there is for men no repentance" (II.4). Repentance is for him tied to mutability and embodiment and so becomes impossible after death. The relevant texts on this topic are summarized in David Bradshaw's chapter, "Patristic Views on Why There Is No Repentance after Death." He distinguishes between a "weak" repentance, wherein sinners who died in ignorance or minor sin could be converted after death because they were still oriented in some way toward the Good; and a "strong" repentance for grave and unrepentant sinners that cannot occur because of the necessity of embodiment/mutability for metanoia. St. Gregory of Nyssa's pottery image would in that case be linked to a sort of "firing" of the disposition and its fixity in a particular state at the moment of death. I've heard that Thomists propose a similar view, though I'm not well read in Catholic theology.
How do you recommend navigating between these two positions?
(A real question, by the way, not a refutation. I would love to believe that St. John and the others Bradshaw cites are wrong on this point.)
Hello, Dr. Jacobs- I really enjoyed this piece, it helped clarify a few questions that have been on my mind. The unmaking and remaking of the pot was very helpful.
You said in the article, "they are perpetually beckoned to walk out of the prison and enter life — evident in the Eastern patristic tradition that the Apostles continued their Apostolic mission post-mortem to those “under the earth”".
I have not heard this before although I remember reading somewhere that the Forerunner preached in Hades before the Lord's arrival. Where can I find mention of the Apostles' post-mortem preaching in Hades?
Dr. Jacobs,
Thank you for this illuminating piece. I was wondering if you might comment on aspects of the patristic tradition that deny the possibility of repentance after death due to the loss of mutability following the soul's separation from the body. I'm thinking in particular of St. John of Damascus, who in the Exact Exposition states that "what in the case of man is death is a fall in the case of angels. For after the fall there is no possibility of repentance for them, just as after death there is for men no repentance" (II.4). Repentance is for him tied to mutability and embodiment and so becomes impossible after death. The relevant texts on this topic are summarized in David Bradshaw's chapter, "Patristic Views on Why There Is No Repentance after Death." He distinguishes between a "weak" repentance, wherein sinners who died in ignorance or minor sin could be converted after death because they were still oriented in some way toward the Good; and a "strong" repentance for grave and unrepentant sinners that cannot occur because of the necessity of embodiment/mutability for metanoia. St. Gregory of Nyssa's pottery image would in that case be linked to a sort of "firing" of the disposition and its fixity in a particular state at the moment of death. I've heard that Thomists propose a similar view, though I'm not well read in Catholic theology.
How do you recommend navigating between these two positions?
(A real question, by the way, not a refutation. I would love to believe that St. John and the others Bradshaw cites are wrong on this point.)
Hello, Dr. Jacobs- I really enjoyed this piece, it helped clarify a few questions that have been on my mind. The unmaking and remaking of the pot was very helpful.
You said in the article, "they are perpetually beckoned to walk out of the prison and enter life — evident in the Eastern patristic tradition that the Apostles continued their Apostolic mission post-mortem to those “under the earth”".
I have not heard this before although I remember reading somewhere that the Forerunner preached in Hades before the Lord's arrival. Where can I find mention of the Apostles' post-mortem preaching in Hades?