As one expects from him, Professor Thiselton here offers a book of eschatology which is remarkable for being accessible while also alarmingly learned. This is not a routine combination. Combining biblical commentary and theology, systematic theology, the history of theology, contemporary philosophy and much else, Thiselton's book raids a lot of coffers for treasure and enriches readers with them.
Books of eschatology treat at least the three last great acts of God: the return in glory of Jesus Christ, the general resurrection of all humanity and the last judgement. Most also discuss the nature of eternity, the intermediate status of believers between their death and the general resurrection and, finally, heaven and hell. Discussion of these matters takes great judiciousness on the theologian's part: the last things are highly supernatural things and our biblical knowledge of them is often sketchy, inviting speculation which may edify or may merely strain credulity. Thiselton edifies, as when he speculates that in the life to come the Holy Spirit will refresh believers by, among other things, vastly expanding their capacity to see and to hear. ‘Matter is not annihilated but transformed. . .’
Thiselton treats the traditional topics, but adds certain less common features to his treatment which, taken together, justify the book's subtitle. These include a fourth concept of God's transcendence with respect to time beyond timelessness, infinite duration, and Boethian simul totum eternality; a gorgeous chapter on what it means to ‘wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ’, and a fresh look at what Paul means by the ‘spiritual body’. The naïve reading is that Paul is speaking of some kind of immaterial body, but Thiselton demurs. ‘Spiritual’ in Paul, and especially in 1 Corinthians, has to do with whatever is activated, animated, vivified by the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit we will have to thank for being able to see like a hawk in the new heaven and earth. ‘Spiritual’ means not ‘immaterial’ but ‘of the Spirit’.
None of Thiselton's speculations detracts in the least from his conviction that for believers the glory of God must be the centre of the picture – God's grandeur, luminosity, augustness, sheer hot aliveness. Heavenly joys derive from bathing in God's glory.
But the larger novelty in Life After Death is that Thiselton regularly enlists the help of mostly contemporary and mostly analytic philosophers to illuminate features of the traditional topics. So J. L. Austin and John Searle help us understand how God's promising something can be a ‘performative’ or ‘illocutionary’ act. Wittgenstein helps us see how waiting for somebody, expecting somebody (including the Lord) is less a psychological state than a behavioural one. If you are waiting for someone you make the moves you need to get ready for them. With his distinction between assertion and presupposition, P. F. Strawson puts us in a position to see that Paul may have presupposed that Jesus would return during his lifetime, but may not have asserted that he would.
Thiselton's use of distinctions and clarifications from mostly analytic philosophers I judge to be largely successful, but it does sometimes turn the discussion suddenly into something more technical.
In the end, what most impresses me about Life After Death is its humane and pastoral sensitivity, and especially its restraint in discussing hell and the wrath of God. This book is both disciplined and warm – another not-so-routine combination that Thiselton achieves with fine aplomb.
