Heaven

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Heaven

Belief in heaven, a place of eternal bliss after death, in which the redeemed experience the presence of God, has long been a part of Christian doctrine. Christians believe that Jesus' own death and resurrection provide fulfillment of his promise "I go to prepare a place for you. . . . that where I am you may be also" ( John 14:3–4). The Nicene Creed and other early Christian confessions assert that Jesus "ascended into heaven from whence he shall come to judge the living and the dead."

Heaven was an important doctrine of the church in the Middle Ages, often linked with a belief in purgatory, an intermediate place for those not saintly enough to enter God's presence immediately, but not evil enough to go to hell. For many of the faithful, the eternal world was very near, linked through prayers for the dead and intercession by the saints.

The Reformation churches continued to emphasize the reality of heaven but rejected belief in purgatory and the saints, insisting that salvation be grounded sola fide —in faith alone as the sole criterion for heavenly citizenship.

Heaven is also closely related to the idea of the Kingdom of God, or the Kingdom of Heaven, a topic frequently addressed by Jesus. The Kingdom of God involves God's rule and reign in this world and the next. In this world the kingdom is always limited, a promise of things to come. In its future sense, the kingdom represents the ultimate victory of God over evil and suffering. When the kingdom comes in its fullness, then heaven is complete.

From the colonial era to the present, heaven has been an important emphasis of many American religious traditions. The contrast between the redeemed in heaven and the lost in hell was a frequent subject of evangelical preachers. Likewise, Catholic missioners (traveling priests) warned of the eternal consequences of sin and the loss of heaven. In a society where life expectancy was short and where infant mortality was high, the belief in heaven was a promise, not only of eternal life, but also of reunion with loved ones and friends lost too soon.

From the time of slavery, African-American Christians gave great attention to the promise of heaven. While whites often insisted that salvation changed only the slaves' eternal status, not their earthly condition, blacks understood heaven as a place of eternal redemption and justice. There, believers met Jesus "face to face," in liberation, peace, and deliverance. The promise of heaven was a powerful theme of African-American spirituals, evident in songs such as "Soon I Will Be Done with the Troubles of the World," "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," and "Everybody Talking About Heaven Ain't A-going There."

Heaven was a continuing theme of nineteenth-century evangelical hymnody as well. Hymns included lyrics such as "When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be" and "In the sweet by and by, we shall meet on that beautiful shore." Shakers and other millennial groups believed that their communal societies were an earthly representation of the heavenly realm. They shared all things in common, practiced celibacy, created deep communal relationships, and communicated directly with the world to come through spirit songs and direct inspiration from those who had gone before them into "glory."

By the late twentieth century, many American Christians had minimized the idea of heaven, for a variety of reasons. First, some saw it as a doctrine of "pie in the sky by and by" sometimes used by political, economic, or religious establishments to keep certain exploited groups—slaves or laborers, for example—in their place. Second, theologians spoke less of the specifics of heavenly bliss than of the promise of hope that rested in God. Many challenged various expressions of popular piety that implied the immortality of souls, with a more Hebrew approach that stressed the wholeness of the person and the unity of body and spirit. The Greek idea of natural immortality was questioned in light of the idea that God alone is immortal and that eternal life for human beings is a gift from God. Third, movements for civil rights and other efforts at promoting social inequality called on people to work toward the experience of justice in the here and now, not in some deferred afterlife. Reformers such as Martin Luther King, Jr., did not reject the idea of heaven, but linked the promise of the kingdom with that of a "beloved community" that all Christians should work to bring about. Fourth, many who continued to affirm belief in an afterlife sought to distinguish it from a literal reading of symbolic language in the Bible, while suggesting that it was a state of union with God and the "communion of saints" of all the ages where justice, peace, and righteousness prevailed.

During the 1980s and 1990s popular attention to heaven and the afterlife captivated large segments of American culture inside and outside traditional religious boundaries. Numerous individuals published books recounting "near-death experiences" in which they claimed to have "crossed over" into eternity, returning, often with regret, to recount sensations of light, peace, and beauty. American popular culture witnessed a growing interest in angels and other spiritual beings, promoted in books, merchandise, and film. One such television series, Touched by an Angel, provided weekly stories of ways in which guardian angels visited and cared for persons in need. The death of popular heroes (e.g., Joe DiMaggio in 1999) provoked sentimental media speculation as to their heavenly entrance. The approaching millennium (the year 2000) increased speculation as to the possible return of Jesus Christ and the establishment of the Kingdom of Heaven. Global awareness raised many questions for Christians about the inhabitants of heaven and whether non-Christians would be allowed to enter. Some insisted that God's grace would welcome all—Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, and other faithful people—while others feared that such "universalism" would destroy the uniqueness of the Christian witness. Through it all, numerous evangelical subgroups continued to proclaim traditional doctrines of heaven as the blissful abode of those who are truly "born again."