Faith, Work, and Economics
Southwestern Journal of Theology
Volume 59, No. 2 - Spring 2017
Managing Editor: W. Madison Grace II
Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory: A Protestant View of the Cosmic Drama. By Jerry L. Walls. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2015. 240 pages. Paperback, $19.99.
Jerry Walls is one of the foremost exponents of the doctrine of the afterlife having published a significant series on Hell, Heaven, and Purgatory. In the present volume, Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory, Walls disseminates his wealth of knowledge in a readable and digestible fashion in one volume rather than treating each topic individually (e.g., the trilogy which includes Hell, Heaven, and Purgatory). Whilst trained in analytic philosophy, Walls creatively draws from his skills for the purpose of crafting a treatment on death intended for a wider audience. He offers the general Christian a unique and thoughtful contribution relevant to the big questions of life.
Walls situates his discussion on Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory in a larger framework on the meaning of life. Charmingly, he motivates the need for an afterlife, by arguing that all of life only makes sense if there is an afterlife and if God is at the center. As a contribution to the wider discussion on the meaning of life, Walls’s work is on par with other significant discussions, namely, The Golden Cord by Charles Taliaferro, The Soul of the World by Roger Scruton, and other exceptional treatments.
Walls is interested in the central questions concerning the afterlife: where do I go when I die? What happens in the afterlife? Why does it matter now in the present? He approaches this set of interrelated questions from a broadly ecumenical Christian perspective, and, more specifically, from a Protestant perspective. In keeping with his trilogy, Walls is interested in offering a critical and coherent case in favor of these doctrines all the while making slight distinction from a Catholic view on the afterlife. He argues that morality is wrapped up in a view of the afterlife. Hell, Heaven, and Purgatory refer to places relevant to an individual’s stance before God.
Interestingly, however, Purgatory is not closer to Hell but closer to Heaven as the place for additional sanctification. In this way, Walls is explicit that Purgatory is not the place we go to earn additional merit (i.e., what he calls the “satisfaction model”), but, instead, it is a place where believers/Christians go to continue in the process of spiritual growth and holiness. Importantly, Walls is not interested in an older Catholic doctrine that articulates Purgatory is a place where one must earn his place in Heaven, nor is it a place where one goes to continue paying for sins. Christ has paid for the objective requirements of what our sins owe to God, which is in keeping with a Protestant view of salvation. Appropriately, he calls the view he is defending a “sanctification model”, which he argues is consistent with Protestant theology. He defends the doctrine of Purgatory on the basis that most Christians have not fully arrived, or attained the fullness of sanctification in this life. And, to suggest that those who are still in process would go straight to heaven to be in the presence of God would seem, well, counter-intuitive to how we grow in spiritual maturity. Additionally, it would seem to undermine the work we have done while on earth. Finally, it would require that God somehow zap us and make us immediately holy upon death, which seems to be the standard Protestant view (112). You might call this the immediate-perfection-upon death view. The difficulty for this view, as Walls explicitly points out, is its non-intuitive nature. Our common sense tells us that growth in maturity takes time and unless we are close to maturity at death, then it seems unlikely that we would simply become holy as soon as we experience physical death. Some comments are in order.
While Walls is right to point out the ad-hoc nature of the immediate-perfection-upon death view, one could conceivably tell a story that circumvents a literal purgatory in the afterlife and motivates a reasonable picture of the immediate view. In keeping with a common sense view of moral and spiritual formation, it seems right to claim that some events might speed up the process of formation for better or for worse. Some actions and events ignite a chain of events, not necessarily, but naturally. For example, both fornication and killing seem to impact people’s moral fiber immediately and in significant ways. One might argue that these actions were a result of a long line of previous choices. This may be true in some cases, but it hardly seems true in all cases. Some actions or events seem to have an immediate and deep effect. An analogy may help to conceive of this possibility. We might think of events like taste aversion. For example, if I were to consume an avocado (something I love) that had been injected with a toxin that caused me to become ill, then I would immediately develop an aversion for avocados because of the associations I have gained from the experience. Positive experiences at times work in a similar fashion. Is it possible then that a direct encounter with God could have an immediate and deep transformation? As Ezekiel 36:27 may indicate, “I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols.” There are several other highlights worth a mention, but, for the sake of space, I will mention one.
Walls addresses the salvation of souls and bodies in Chapter 5, one of the many noteworthy chapters. Walls practically motivates the discussion by raising the question of whether or not we will know one another in the afterlife. Academics regard this as a question about personal identity. The challenge with the Christian afterlife is accounting for radical change, the foremost of which is physical death and physical resurrection. He points out that if humans have souls (or are souls), then this would provide the pre-conditions for continuity between physical death and physical resurrection (123–24). Additionally, He notes the significant challenge materialism (the view that humans are wholly material/physical in nature) has in accounting for purgatory, but he remains open to the possibility of a solution (124–26).
As with any scholarly work intended for a general audience, one might dispute certain finely grained details, but, in this case, very few infelicities present themselves. Walls has written an exceptional, the finest to date, introductory treatment of the afterlife that is accessible, careful and clear. The scholar, the student, and the lay Christian will benefit from reading and digesting Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory.
