REINCARNATION AS A CHRISTIAN HOPE

Christian teaching about what the Creed calls 'the life of the world to come' is more muddled than is any other part of traditional doctrine. Professor Mac· Gregor notes at the outset the uneasiness that many of us in the West feel about the notion of reincarnation. It is often misunderstood in a primitivistic and magical way; even in its most ethical and developed forms it seems to fit Chris· tianity about as badly as would a stupa or pagoda atop a Gothic church. Yet the promise of resurrection, that most central and orthodox of all Christian doctrines, is the promise of a form of reincarnation. Most of the difficulties, philosophical and theological, that apply to the one (e.g. memory and continuity) affect the other no less. MacGregor also uses reincarnation as an interpretation of the Anglican doctrine of purgatory as a place of growth. Dr MacGregor proposes that a careful examination of the roots of rein· carnationist theory in the West and its immense and pervasive influence in Christian literature, not least during and since the Italian Renaissance, will show how reincarnation may not only fit into, but also immeasurably enrich, our Christian hope so as to make even educated conservative opinion hospitable to it. He asks both that theologians will consider his proposal with the seriousness he believes it merits and that the average Christian whom he has especially in mind will find it as exciting and rewarding as he does.

Geddes MacGregor, D es L (Sorbonne), D Phil, DD (Oxford), LL B (Edin· burgh), is Emeritus Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, University of Southern California, where he was Dean of the School of Religion. A native of , he began professional life as Senior Assistant at St Giles', , to the Dean of the Chapel Royal in Scotland. He held a parish for several years, served in the British Civil Defence during the Second World War and as Chaplain to the Red Cross, and taught in the Department of Logic, . In 1949 he accepted an invitation to be the first Rufus Jones Professor of Philosophy and Religion at Bryn Mawr, USA, where he remained until his California appointment in 1960. He is a recipient of the California Literature Award (Gold Medal) and of the honorary degree of LHD from Hebrew Union, a member of Mensa and several professional societies, and he has been Special Preacher in many pulpits, including St Paul's, London, and Westminster Abbey. He has been a Visiting Fellow at Yale, Canon Theologian of Los Angeles, and has travelled extensively in Europe and Asia. He is the author of twenty-five books, the first of which was published by Macmillan in 1947. ISBN 978-1-349-06096-2 ISBN 978-1-349-06094-8 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-06094-8 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1982 978-0-333-31986-4 LIBRARY OF PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION

General Editor: John Hick H. G. Wood Professor of Theology, University of Birmingham

This new series of books will explore contemporary religious understandings of man and the universe. The books will be contributions to various aspects of the continuing dialogues between religion and philosophy, between scepticism and faith, and between the different religions and ideologies. The authors will represent a correspondingly wide range of viewpoints. Some of the books in the series will be written for the general educated public and others for a more specialised philosophical or theological readership.

A [ready published William H. Austin THE RELEVANCE OF NATURAL SCIENCE TO THEOLOGY Paul Badham CHRISTIAN BELIEFS ABOUT LIFE AFTER DEATH Paul and Linda Badham IMMORTALITY OR EXTINCTION? Patrick Burke THE FRAGILE UNIVERSE Margaret Chatterjee GANDHI"S RELIGIOUS THOUGHT William Lane Craig THE KALAM COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENT THE COSMOLOGICAL ARGUMENT FROM PLATO TO LEIBNIZ Lynn A. de Silva THE PROBLEM OF THE SELF IN BUDDHISM AND CHRISTIANITY Padmasiri de Silva AN INTRODUCTION TO BUDDHIST PSYCHOLOGY Ramchandra Gandhi THE AVAILABILITY OF RELIGIOUS IDEAS J. C. A. Gaskin HUME'S PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION H. A. Hodges GOD BEYOND KNOWLEDGE Hywel D. Lewis PERSONS AND LIFE AFTER DEATH Eric Lott VEDANTIC APPROACHES TO GOD Geddes MacGregor REINCARNATION AS A CHRISTIAN HOPE Hugo A. Meynell AN INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF BERNARD LONERGAN F. C. T. Moore THE PSYCHOLOGICAL BASIS OF MORALITY Dennis Nineham THE USE AND ABUSE OF THE BIBLE Bernard M.G. Reardon HEGEL'S PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION John J. Shepherd EXPERIENCE, INFERENCE AND GOD Patrick Sherry RELIGION, TRUTH AND LANGUAGE-GAMES Wilfred Cantwell Smith TOWARDS A WORLD THEOLOGY Shivesh Chandra Thakur RELIGION AND RATIONAL CHOICE Robert Young FREEDOM, RESPONSIBILITY AND GOD

Further titles in preparation TO MY WIFE FOR OUR FORTIETH ANNIVERSARY IN HAC VITA

Other books by Geddes MacGregor

The Nicene Creed Illumined by Modern Thought Scotland Forever Home Gnosis Reincarnation in Christianity He Who Lets Us Be The Rhythm of God Philosophical Issues in Religious Thought So Help Me God A Literary History of the Bible The Sense of Absence God Beyond Doubt The Hemlock and the Cross The Coming Reformation Introduction to Religious Philosophy The Bible in the Making Corpus Christi The Thundering Scot The Vatican Revolution The Tichborne Impostor From a Christian Ghetto Les Frontieres de la morale et de la religion Christian Doubt Aesthetic Experience in Religion Contents

Preface 1x Acknowledgements x1

1 The Nature and Importance of the Question 1 2 Confusion in Traditional Christian Options About 'The Life of the World to Come' 12 3 Ways of Understanding the Concept of Reincarnation 26 4 New Testament and Patristic Witness 42 5 How and Why Reincarnationism Fell Into Disfavour 60 6 Reincarnation as an Interpretation of Purgatory 69 7 Evolution and the Concept of Reincarnation 80 8 Angels and Other Ministers of the Grace of God 91 9 Memory and Claims of Recollection of Previous Lives 99 10 Reincarnation in European and American Literature Since the Renaissance 115 11 Philosophical Objections and Reflections 123 12 Theological Objections and Reflections 132 13 The Life of the World to Come 141

Notes and References 150 Index 157 Preface

The state of teaching about 'the life of the world to come' has been for long the most confused aspect of Christian theology. The concept of reincarnation tends to alarm even the most heterodox of Christians. Yet the promise of resurrection, that most central of Christian doctrines, is a promise of a form of reincarnation. The most important difficulties, philosophical and theological, that apply to the one affect the other no less. Although some Christians account my attitude to and interpretation of the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith too orthodox for their liking, I am inclined to take very seriously the possibility that a form of reincarnationism might show how sadly we have neglected what could be an enrichment of the Christian hope. Christians of more heterodox opinions may find themselves even more easily attracted to the proposal. I address myself, therefore, to educated Christians of every shade of opinion. When I was invited some years ago to give the Birks Lectures at McGill University, Montreal, the Dean and Faculty chose, among some suggestions of mine, a series entitled 'The Christening of Karma' which later developed into a book published under the title Reincarnation in Christianity. More recently I was invited to give the Florence B. Warren Lectures at the University of Dubuque on a similar subject. When, therefore, my old friend Professor John Hick asked me to provide the present book, based on these lectures, for the series he edits with my first publisher, I accepted with much pleasure. In biblical references I have generally followed the Jerusalem Bible QB), but in some instances the New English Bible (NEB) or the King James Version (KJV).

Los Angeles Geddes MacGregor july 1981

IX Acknowledgements

The author and publishers wish to thank the following who have kindly given permission for the use of copyright material: Hutchinson Publishing Group for the verse from 'Pre-Existence' in Collected Poems by Frances Cornford; and the Society of Authors as the literary representative of the Estate of John Masefield and Macmillan Publishing Company Inc. for the verse from A Creed.

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