Life Beyond Death A Traveler's Guide for Christians |
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| Contribution by:
| The Catholic Health Association of the United States, |
| Produced by:
| The Catholic Health Association of the United States, |
| Author:
| O'Meara, Thomas |
| Foreword by:
| Phan, Peter |
| ISBN: | 978-0-87125-130-5 |
| Publication Date: | Apr 2019 |
| Publisher: | Catholic Health Association of the U. S.
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| Book Format: | Paperback |
| List Price: | USD $20.00 |
Book Description:
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The subtitle of Professor's O'Meara's book, A Traveler's Guide for Christians, is a particularly apt means to dispel a common misunderstanding of the Christian discourse about life beyond death. The theology of the "Last Things," or eschatology, is not an advance report of what will happen after death, a peek into the life beyond death to satisfy our curiosity. It is important to note that the few biblical statements on heaven and hell are not descriptions of the afterlife but...
More DescriptionThe subtitle of Professor's O'Meara's book, A Traveler's Guide for Christians, is a particularly apt means to dispel a common misunderstanding of the Christian discourse about life beyond death. The theology of the "Last Things," or eschatology, is not an advance report of what will happen after death, a peek into the life beyond death to satisfy our curiosity. It is important to note that the few biblical statements on heaven and hell are not descriptions of the afterlife but prescriptions or guides on how to live this present life in a way that will make us worthy of God's gift of eternal life in communion with the Triune God, the saints, and the entire human family, in a renewed and transformed cosmos. O'Meara's volume offers precisely this all-too-necessary guide. More precisely, this guide is a roadmap, a GPS, to use a contemporary expression, for our journey toward God - A Traveler's Guide.In this sense O'Meara joins a host of Christian classics since the late Middle Ages known as ars bene moriendi - the art of dying well. Right in the first two chapters he shows us how to die well, to look at death in the eye and not resort to (useless) denials. He urges us to view death as an "entrance," not as an end. In the next three chapters, O'Meara accompanies us on our journey to God through time and life during which, by God's grace, we will be able to mature as human beings and as Christians. The last three chapters give a glimpse - but only a glimpse, not a descriptive report - into life beyond death. The pervasive tone of the book is one of joy and hope, not fear and despair. O'Meara speaks eloquently and beautifully about the "power of hope" and about "transforming light," a message so appropriate for time threatened by war and rumors of war, racism and xenophobia, and the prospect of ecological destruction.