Eternal Life and Human Happiness in Heaven: Philosophical Problems, Thomistic Solutions

505 Pages·2021·2.85 MB·English

by  Christopher M. Brown

EtErnal lifE and Human HappinEss
in HEavEn

ETERNAL LIFE AND
HUMAN HAPPINESS
IN HEAVEN
pHilosopHical problEms,
tHomistic solutions
Christopher M. Brown
The Catholic University of America Press
Washington, D.C.
Copyright © 2021
The Catholic University of America Press
All rights reserved
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standards for Information Science—Permanence
of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.
∞
Frontispiece: Mary, Queen of Heaven, c. 1485 / 1500. Master of the Saint Lucy Legend.
Courtesy of the Samuel H. Kress Collection, National Gallery of Art.
Cataloging-in-Publication Data available from the Library of Congress
ISbN 978-0-8132-3414-4
To my wife, Merry Elizabeth, and my sons,
Judah, Leo, and Thomas
L
I . . . pray that You bring [us] . . . sinner[s] to that
ineffable banquet where You dwell with Your Son
and Holy Spirit. You Who are for Your saints true
light, complete fulfillment, eternal joy, consummate
delight, and perfect happiness. Through the same
Christ Our Lord. Amen.
ThomAS AquINAS, “LoNger PrAyer
AfTer CommuNIoN”

CoNTeNTS
CoNTeNTS
contEnts
Acknowledgments ix
List of Abbreviations xi
Introduction 1
Part 1. Four Apparent Problems
concerning Eternal Life
1. Contemporary Philosophy and Theology and Two
Problems concerning the Nature of Heaven 7
2. Contemporary Philosophy and Theology and a Third
Problem concerning the Nature of Heaven: Static or
Dynamic Reality? 30
3. Contemporary Philosophy and Theology and the
Problem of the Tedium of (Heavenly) Immortality 76
Part 2. St. Thomas on the Essential
Reward in Heaven
4. Human beatitudo in Heaven: A Prolegomena 89
5. The Essential Reward I: The Essential Characteristics
of the Beatific Vision 122
6. The Essential Reward II: The Primary and Secondary
Objects of the Beatific Vision 141
7. The Essential Reward III: The Beatific Vision as
Participation in God’s Eternal Life 167
8. The Essential Reward IV: The Proper Accidents of the
Beatific Vision 180
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viii Contents
Part 3. St. Thomas on the Accidental
Reward in Heaven
9. The Accidental Reward I: The Relative Importance of
Embodiment for Human Happiness in Heaven 197
10. The Accidental Reward II: Resurrection Bodies 234
11. The Accidental Reward III: Glorified Bodies 282
12. The Accidental Reward IV: The Communion of the
Saints, the Aureoles, and the Fruits 328
13. The Accidental Reward V: Nonhuman Material Beings
in Heaven 339
Part 4. Thomistic Solutions to Four Apparent
Problems concerning Eternal Life
14. A Thomistic Solution to PNH-I: The Goods of the
Beatific Vision and the City of God, Rightly Ordered 391
15. A Thomistic Solution to PNH-II: Transfigured Human
Embodiment 400
16. A Thomistic Solution to PNH-III: Heaven as
Perfectly Dynamic 411
17. A Thomistic Solution to the Problem of the Tedium
of Heavenly Immortality 420
Conclusion 445
Selected Bibliography 449
Scriptural Index 461
General Index 463
ACkNowLedgmeNTS
ACkNowLedgmeNTS
acknowlEdgmEnts
There are many people to thank. The following people discussed
with me topics central to the book, offered encouragement, or pro-
vided helpful comments on earlier drafts of the book or papers that
are ancestors to the book: Leasha Allen, Spencer Atkins, Thomas
Atkinson, Fiona Grooms Barker, Mark Barker, Gregory Beabout,
Fr. Timothy Bellamah, OP, John F. Boyle, Matthew Braddock, Jeff
Brower, Merry Brown, T. Ryan Byerly, Richard Cain, Calob Cohoe,
Bryan Cross, Brandon Dahm, Jason Eberl, Lawrence Feingold, Jim
Fieser, John Glass, Luke Henderson, Chris Hill, Nathan Howard, Art
Hunt, Colin Johnson, Jahann Jones, Norman Lillegard, Mark Lister,
Megan Long, Les Macdiarmid, Lydia Martin, Colleen McCluskey, Dan
McDonough, Esaias McKinney, Laura Miller, Sarah Miller, Mixon
Moore, Jack Mulder, Turner Nevitt, Emily Nuenke, Joe Ostenson, Tim
Pawl, Garner Perkins, Sam Richardson, Callum Savage, Fr. Dennis
Schenkel, Jeffrey Schlicter, John Schommer, Eric Silverman, Mark
Spencer, Mallory Spisak, Eleonore Stump, Kevin Timpe, Patrick Ton-
er, John G. Trapani Jr., Christina Van Dyke, Fr. Theodore Vitali, CP,
Sam Webb, and Thomas Williams; participants in my upper-division
classes on God and human happiness at the University of Tennessee
at Martin in 2008, 2011, and 2017; members of the Martin Hobbit
Club; participants at the 2008 American Maritain Conference; par-
ticipants at St. Thomas paper sessions at the International Congress
for Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo, Michigan, in 2014, 2015, and
2016; participants in the 2015 Interim State Writing Workshop in
McCall, Idaho; and an anonymous reader for the Catholic University
of America Press.
I also wish to thank the journal Faith and Philosophy for permission
to use parts of my “Making the Best Even Better: Modifying Pawl and
Timpe’s Solution to the Problem of Heavenly Freedom.”1 Thanks to
Routledge for permission to use parts of my “Friendship in Heaven:
1. Faith and Philosophy 32, no. 1 (2015): 63–80.
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