Eternal life and human happiness in heaven : philosophical problems, Thomistic solutions /
Christopher M. Brown.
- 1 online resource (xiii, 487 pages)
Includes bibliographies and index.
Introduction -- Part 1. Four Apparent Problems Concerning Eternal Life -- 1. Contemporary Philosophy and Theology and Two Problems concerning the Nature of Heaven -- 2. Contemporary Philosophy and Theology and a Third Problem concerning the Nature of Heaven -- 3. Contemporary Philosophy and Theology and the Problem of the Tedium of (Heavenly) Immortality -- Part 2. St. Thomas on the Essential Reward in Heaven -- 4. Human beatitudo in Heaven -- 5. The Essential Reward I: The Essential Characteristics of the Beatific Vision -- 6. The Essential Reward II: The Primary and Secondary Objects of the Beatific Vision -- 7. The Essential Reward III: The Beatific Vision as Participation in God's Eternal Life -- 8. The Essential Reward IV: The Proper Accidents of the Beatific Vision -- 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 -- 10. The Accidental Reward II: Resurrection Bodies -- 11. The Accidental Reward III: Glorified Bodies -- 12. The Accidental Reward IV: The Communion of the Saints, the Aureoles, and the Fruits -- 13. The Accidental Reward V: Nonhuman Material Beings in Heaven -- 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 -- 15. A Thomistic Solution to PNH-II: Transfigured Human Embodiment -- 16. A Thomistic Solution to PNH-III: Heaven as Perfectly Dynamic -- 17. A Thomistic Solution to the Problem of the Tedium of Heavenly Immortality -- Conclusion.
"Considers four apparent problems of eternal life--is heaven a mystical or social reality, is it other-worldly or this-worldly, is it static or dynamic, is it boring?--and shows how the teachings of Thomas Aquinas support more satisfying solutions than many contemporary philosophical and theological approaches"--