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Copyright © 2012 Toby Vincent Jennings All Rights Reserved. The Copyright © 2012 Toby Vincent Jennings All rights reserved. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary has permission to reproduce and disseminate this document in any form by any means for purposes chosen by the Seminary, including, without limitation, preservation or instruction. A BIBLICAL PORTRAIT OF DEATH AS THE QUALIFIER OF BOTH THE ETHIC AND VALUE OF HUMAN LIFE __________________ A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary __________________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy __________________ by Toby Vincent Jennings December 2012 APPROVAL SHEET A BIBLICAL PORTRAIT OF DEATH AS THE QUALIFIER OF BOTH THE ETHIC AND VALUE OF HUMAN LIFE Toby Vincent Jennings Read and Approved by: __________________________________________ Stephen J. Wellum (Chair) __________________________________________ Gregg R. Allison __________________________________________ Michael A. G. Haykin Date ______________________________ To my precious mother, Helen (Powell) Jennings, whose death inspired this sentiment: Losing a loved-one in this nuclear age Is like dropping a stone into a pond. The elements retreat only long enough to receive the stone, But flow again to all but cover any sign That the stone ever passed this way. Oh that such a loss were once again Like the dropping of a stone Onto a soft, sandy beach Where the impression would remain Until the continual, gentle stroke of the tide Would carry away the stone And polish the impression like so much fine crystal. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ........................................... x PREFACE .......................................................... xiii Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................. 1 The Anemic Memento Mori of Our Contemporary Setting ............ 1 Methodology ............................................... 10 Not a Biblical Thanatology ................................ 10 Shape and Thesis of the Current Work ....................... 20 Warrant for this Study ........................................ 22 Systematic Theologies .................................... 24 Treatises on Life and Death ................................ 34 Derivative Works ........................................ 37 Summary .................................................. 38 Scope of the Current Work .................................... 39 2. THE ORIGIN OF DEATH ...................................... 47 Inexorable Law of Nature or Catastrophic Disorder? ................ 49 Variations of Contingent Immortality ........................ 56 Death as a Direct Consequence of Sin ........................ 61 Author’s Assessment ..................................... 62 iv Chapter Page What is Death? ............................................. 68 The Reason for Death .................................... 71 The Ineluctability of Death ................................ 74 The Utility of Death ...................................... 78 Conclusion: The Good Providence of God in the Ordinance of Death .. 84 God-ordained Entrance of Death ............................ 87 Concurrence with This Good Providence of God ............... 89 Death Is Not Final ....................................... 89 3. DEATH IN THE OLD TESTAMENT ............................. 91 Terminology ............................................... 91 Shĕ’ôl ................................................. 92 Rĕphā’îm .............................................. 97 Nephesh .............................................. 100 “Depths of the Earth” .................................... 100 The Afterlife in the Old Testament .............................. 102 Life as Blessing, Death as Curse ............................ 103 The Aaronic Benediction as Instructive of Israel’s Understanding of Life as Blessing and Death as Curse ...... 106 The Old Testament and ANE Parallels ........................... 111 Analysis from The Epic of Gilgamesh ........................ 112 Comparison and Contrast .................................. 115 Funerary Practices ....................................... 118 Personification of Chthonic Deities: Not an Israelite Trait ........ 119 v Chapter Page Similarities Do Not an Etymology Make ...................... 120 The Relative Value of Human Life in the Old Testament ............ 123 Anthropological Solidarity: The Community of Israel ........... 125 Depictions of Death in the Old Testament ..................... 127 Resurrection in the Old Testament .............................. 136 Conclusion ................................................ 141 4. DEATH IN THE NEW TESTAMENT ............................ 144 Introduction ................................................ 144 Portrait of the Ethic of Human Life ............................. 146 The Value of Human Life as Illustrated by Christ’s Incarnation ....... 150 The Death of the Son of Man .................................. 151 What Does the Human Nature of Jesus Christ Portend? .......... 151 What Does the Death of Jesus Christ Portend? ................. 154 The Post-Crucifixion Humanity of Christ ..................... 160 Anthropological Solidarity: The Church .......................... 163 Doctrines and Depictions of Death in the New Testament ............ 165 Already—Not Yet ....................................... 166 Why Do Christians Die? .................................. 168 Depictions of Death in the New Testament .................... 175 The Resurrection ............................................ 179 5. THEOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY ............................ 182 An Appropriate Analysis Paradigm ............................. 182 vi Chapter Page Anthropological Constructs ................................... 187 Monism ............................................... 187 Dualism ............................................... 190 Alternative Anthropologies: What is a Human Individual? ........... 191 Dualistic Views ......................................... 191 Monistic Views ......................................... 194 Hylomorphism .......................................... 198 Hylomorphic Dualism .................................... 201 Continuity of Personal Identity ................................. 205 Intermediate State ....................................... 209 Anthropological Solidarity .................................... 210 Realist Anthropology ..................................... 215 Conclusion ................................................ 222 6. DEATH AND THE CHURCH TRIUMPHANT ..................... 225 A View from the Early Church Militant .......................... 225 No Fear in Death ........................................ 228 Martyrdom ................................................ 231 Pseudomartyrdom ....................................... 231 Martyrdom in the Early Church ............................. 235 Conclusion ................................................ 248 7. EXCURSUS: THE FROWNING PROVIDENCE OF INFANT DEATH . 250 Hard Sayings about Death ..................................... 250 vii Chapter Page Aaron Kept Silent ....................................... 252 God-ordained Frowning Providence of Death .................. 255 Framing the Issue ........................................... 258 Augustine on Original Sin and Its Implications for the Destiny of Deceased Infants .......................... 261 The Early Church on Original Sin ........................... 263 Augustine’s Development of the Doctrine of Original Sin ........ 266 The Condition of Deceased Infants .......................... 268 The Consequence of Original Sin/The Meaning of qavnatoV .......... 271 The Wages of Original Sin ................................ 271 The Justice of God in the Damnation of Sinners ................ 281 In What Way Does God Pass Over Sin? ...................... 282 The Judgment Seat ....................................... 284 Argument from Silence ............................................... 286 Conclusion ................................................ 287 8. THE LAUD OF GOD FOR HIS ORDINANCE OF DEATH ........... 291 Summary and Concluding Theological Reflections ................. 292 The Justice of God in His Ordinance of Death ................. 297 Admonition Concerning a Proper Disposition toward Death ...... 300 Ars Moriendi ............................................... 305 Contemplation of One’s Own End ........................... 305 Puritan Theology ........................................ 308 Signals from Ars Moriendi for Today’s Living ................. 312 viii Page The Beatific Vision .......................................... 319 The Beatific Vision in Augustine ........................... 320 The Eschaton: Sabbatum Christianum ........................ 324 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................... 325 ix LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ACW Ancient Christian Writers ANF The Ante-Nicene Fathers ANE Ancient Near East AV Authorized Version BAGD Walter Bauer, William F. Arndt, Felix Wilbur Gingrich, and Frederick William Danker, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature BTDB Baker Theological Dictionary of the Bible BNTC Black’s New Testament Commentary CD Church Dogmatics EBC Expositor’s Bible Commentary BECNT Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament EDT Evangelical Dictionary of Theology EQ Evangelical Quarterly FC The Fathers of the Church ICC International Critical Commentary IDB Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible JETS Journal of
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