Death & afterlife in biblical & Chinese religious thought

Abstract

It is a universal fact that a man's mortal life must one day terminate, but attitudes towards death and conceptions of the hereafter differ profusely from one culture to another, and sometimes even within the same society. In his thesis the writer has attempted to analyze firstly the Biblical teaching on death and afterlife, and, secondly, Chinese concept ions of the same. These are compared briefly in the final section of the study. In PART I the Old Testament material is considered in three Chapters. In the first there is a short discussion of the archaeological data, which we conclude, indicates that from the earliest times there was in Palestine the view held that there is an existence beyond the grave. Next a chapter was devoted to the pre-Exilic period of Israel's history, and although conceptions of death and afterlife are not developed systematic ally there we saw how this idea of post-mortem survival was gradually beginning to permeate Israelite thinking. This continued in the period after the Exile which is considered in Chapter III. However, we noted that there were a few dissenting voices, as in the case of Ecclesiastes which appears to reject any idea of life after death. As far as the origin of what eventual l y came to be a doctrine of bodily resurrection goes we concluded that it developed more from within Judaism itself than from outside sources such as the Canaanites, Persians or Greeks. PART II centers on the New Testament material regarding death and afterlife. A Chapter was given to the views of the main Jewish parties of the time of Jesus, and then the attitude of the Nazarene himself and the events and meaning of his own, death and resurrection are considered in the next three Chapters. For the believer this means the restoration of that fellowship with God which was lost at the fall. Sin and spiritual death have been conquered, and although physical death remains for the Christian it if a foe defeated and it can be regarded in terms of merely falling asleep will be awakened to inherit his share of Christ’s s heavenly kingdom. For the non-believer death signals damnation. PART III is devoted to Chinese concepts of death and afterlife with Chapters on the earliest period of China's history, Confucian ideas, Taoist concepts, the Buddhist view, and 'popular view ' respectively. We noted particularly the diversity of views held by the Chinese today in Singapore and m i x t u r e of ideas taken from each of the major religious traditions to have affected China, as well as from Animism. The major features of a typical Chinese funeral were described, as were some of the customs associated with mourning. It was in PART IV that an attempt was made to briefly compare Biblical and Chinese concepts of death and afterlife. We stressed in particular that "the New Testament presents a much more positive attitude towards death for the believer than is held by the majority of Chinese. For the Christian death itself has been defeated by Jesus’ self-sacrifice, whereas most Chinese will have a fear of death because of the retribution which will be meted out in Pi Yu, the Chinese equivalent of Purgatory. We also saw that the pure Land Buddhist conception of Nirvana resembles very closely the picture of heaven described in Rev.21-22. We completed our study with some suggestions, for evangelism to the Chinese. The particular Chinese preoccupation with ritual the spiritual realm, and filial piety, we felt, represent useful springboards for witness to them. By emphasizing the Biblical teaching on those areas which are close to the Chinese heart we concluded that Christian witnesses might be more effective. In closing we summarized why we feel Christianity is to be favored as a religious system over and above that of the Chinese: Firstly, it has a more coherent framework. Secondly, it propounds a higher level of morality. Thirdly, it has a more feistily grounded eschatological hope. And, fourthly, in Christianity salvation is by grace alone, as opposed to 'works' to gain 'merit ’.