IN THE CONCEPTION OF PREDESTINATION that John Duns Scotus made his own one can distinguish the following theses. Through an engagement with contemporary versions of universalism by contrasting these with St Thomas’ vision of Man, death, and life after death, I hope to answer the question framed above, and so to help pastors and spiritual directors in the care of souls.
My hope is to show that the eternity of hell is due to the obstinacy of the human will rather than God’s ‘fault’, and that hell is consonant with God’s love and wisdom, and the necessity of human freedom, which thus gives greater urgency and direction to our actions as well as renews the devotion to St Joseph as patron saint of a happy death.
More broadly, there are concerns about the possibility of salvation for non-Christians or lapsed Christians, and a worry about God’s desire to punish Man eternally. This optimism is based largely on the notion of the possibility of repentance, that is, of “changing one’s mind” after death. In particular, there is a general universalist sense whereby everybody, regardless of what they have done or what they believe, will eventually gain eternal life in heaven. The reason for addressing this question is motivated by pastoral experience in which I have experienced keen interest about questions concerning salvation and Man’s final end and destiny, but I have discerned evidence for both ignorance and confusion about these matters.
This tesina aims to answer the question: Why can we not repent after death? The areas of study which it will cover include philosophical issues concerning repentance the metaphysics of Man and his means of intellection the grammar of the human act and theological questions concerning the moment of death and final perseverance God’s providence and divine actions ex convenientia universalism in its 20th and 21st-century articulations and the Church’s established doctrine of hell. Tesina submitted in partial fulfillment for the degree 'Licentiate in Sacred Theology' at the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception (Dominican House of Studies) in Washington DC.
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