Seeing God: The Beatific Vision in Christian Tradition

by Hans Boersma

Publisher:

Eerdmans

, 2018

Overview

When we see God, are we looking with our physical eyes or with the mind’s eye? Both, says Hans Boersma in this sacramental and historical treatment of the beatific vision. Focusing on “vision” as a living metaphor, Boersma shows how the vision of God is accessible already today.

Seeing God is a historical study, but it also includes a dogmatic articulation of key characteristics that contribute to our understanding of the beatific vision. Theologians, philosophers, and literary authors have long maintained that the invisible God becomes visible to us. Boersma shows how God trains us to see his character by transforming our eyes and minds, highlighting continuity from this world to the next. Christ-centered, sacramental, and ecumenical in character, Seeing God presents life as a pilgrimage to see the face of God in the hereafter.

Key Features

• Presents a compelling theological account that his sacramental and Christ-centered
• Digs deeply into the historical Christian tradition for analysis and inspiration
• Emphasizes the importance of developing a serious account of how Christians view God

Contents

• Introduction
  • Plausibility and Vision: The Beatific Vision in Modernity
• Part 1: Beatific Vision in Early Christian Thought
  • Philosophy and Vision: Plato, Plotinus, and the Christian Faith
  • Progress and Vision: Gregory of Nyssa’s Unending Search
  • Anticipation and Vision: Augustine on Theophanies and Ecstasy
• Part 2: Beatific Vision in Medieval Thought
  • Transfiguration and Vision: Thomas Aquinas and Gregory Palamas
  • Mystical Union and Vision: Symeon the New Theologian and John of the Cross
  • Faculties and Vision: Bonaventure and Nicholas of Cusa
  • Speech and Vision: Dante’s Transhumanizing Journey
• Part 3: Beatific Vision in Protestant Thought
  • Accommodation and Vision: John Calvin on Face-to-Face Vision of God
  • Modernity and Vision: John Donne’s Restoration of “Commerce twixt heauen and earth”
  • Christ and Vision: Puritan and Dutch Reformed Articulations of the Beatific Vision
  • Mediation and Vision: An Edwardsean Modification of Thomas Aquinas
• Part 4: Beatific Vision: A Dogmatic Appraisal
  • Pedagogy and Vision: Beatific Vision through Apprenticeship

Top Highlights

“The beatific vision, in its perpetual gaze on God in Christ, centers like nothing else on enjoying him.” (Page 5)

“‘sacramental ontology,’ that is, the notion, characteristic of the ancient and medieval world, that reality is symbolic, both in the sense that the material world discloses spiritual reality, which is expressed through the material lending it meaning, and in the way in which, throughout the material, animal, human world, there is an interlocking symbolism that draws on the fundamental spiritual-material symbolism and reveals a kind of cosmic sympathy, reaching throughout the whole created order. The notion that everything has a purpose, a telos, links the sacramental ontology with the beatific vision as the goal of humankind, if not of creation.” (Page xiv)

“We could say, therefore, that we are human inasmuch as we are conformed to Christ. As we become more and more like Christ, we become more truly ourselves. It is not our past, therefore, but our future that properly tells us who we are. As imperfect types, our identity is grounded sacramentally—or, we could also say, teleologically—in Christ. Once we recognize Christ as the archetype of history, we also discover the teleological drive and the sacramental character of history: the future reality of the archetype is already present within the shadowy types of history.” (Pages 9–10)

“Enter the inner chamber of thy mind; shut out all thoughts save that of God, and such as can aid thee in seeking him; close thy door and seek him. Speak now, my whole heart! speak now to God, saying, I seek thy face; thy face, Lord, will I seek (Psalms 27:8). And come thou now, O Lord my God, teach my heart where and how it may seek thee, where and how it may find thee’ (1). By turning to Psalm 27, Anselm takes his reader on a pilgrimage to the summit of human existence, a face-to-face encounter with God.” (Pages 22–23)

Product Details

• Title: Seeing God: The Beatific Vision in Christian Tradition
• Author: Hans Boersma
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2018
• Pages: 487
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Topic: Theology

About Hans Boersma

Hans Boersma (PhD, University of Utrecht) is the Order of St. Benedict Servants of Christ Chair in Ascetical Theology at Nashotah House. He is the author of several books, including Seeing God: The Beatific Vision in Christian Tradition, Scripture as Real Presence: Sacramental Exegesis in the Early Church, Sacramental Preaching: Sermons on the Hidden Presence of Christ, and Heavenly Participation: The Weaving of a Sacramental Tapestry. He previously taught at Regent College in Vancouver, Canada, and he is an ordained deacon in the Anglican Church in North America.