Making Sense of Death and Immortality, Modern Church Series. Paul Badham, SPCK Publishing, 2013 (ISBN: 978-0-281-06458-8), ix + 86 pp., $14.00. Paul Badham continues his fine scholarship on death and the afterlife in this brief, but constructive, volume in which he contrasts today’s dominant naturalistic interpretation of reality with an archaic and largely unhelpful traditional Christian ways of understating death. Badham hopes ‘to grapple with these issues and to explore arguments for Christian hope today’ (p. vii). In chapter one, Badham confronts the naturalistic view of death which regards death as ‘personal extinction’ (p. 1). Rooted in ancient Greek philosophy, this view of death refers to the moment when a person breathes the last breath and thus ‘ceases to be’ (p. 2). In the past century and a half, evolution has strengthened the case of naturalistic extinction, viewing death as a means of ‘progressive adaptation to the challenges of existence’ (p. 3). In chapter two, Badham underscores the Christian contribution to immortality, rooting it in the distinctive message of salvation and hope of a glorious future with God. Such glory originated in a dualistic resurrection of the body and the immortality of the soul (p. 15). While both beliefs have been historically embraced, the notion of the soul is often ‘dismissed as a Greek intrusion into Christian doctrine’ (p. 16). Still, he posits that ‘any belief in a future resurrection, however understood, depends on the continuity through death of something we can call the “soul” which acts as the bearer of our personhood’ (p. 23). In chapter three, Badham explains that life after death requires belief in God. He argues that modern scientific developments signify that the universe had a beginning and is ‘fine-tuned’ to support the beginning and sustaining of life. God is, he contends, ‘the mind behind the universe’ (p. 26). The tormenting presence of evil, however, requires an eschatological heaven created by a loving God who could not simply extinguish those he loves upon physical death. 1 2 In chapter four, Badham argues that the resurrection was essentially a vision that the disciples had of Jesus. He contends that the verb the Apostle Paul used for the appearances of Jesus means ‘he let himself be seen,’ a verb ‘more commonly used for a religious vision than for something physically seen’ (p. 43). Further, the quick appearing and disappearing of Jesus suggests not a physical body, but a spiritual one, entailing ‘a wholly visionary appearance of Jesus’ (p. 45). In chapter five, Badham investigates the legitimacy of near-death experiences (NDEs), mentioning his own experience when he was a teenager. He reviews various naturalistic explanations and concludes that subsequent explanations for NDEs cannot be categorized in purely natural ways. Rather, he finds that NDEs are common in most religions including Paul’s paradisiacal experience in 2 Cor. 12. Badham notes that ‘modern medicine’s ability to resuscitate people who have “died”’ . . . ‘is suggestive that historic beliefs in a real life beyond may have some evidential support’ (p. 57) and must be taken seriously. In chapter six, Badham recounts some of the earlier views of hell as a place of endless fire upon which the righteous would, in glee and joy, watch the eternal agony of the evil. He characterizes much of the theological teaching and preaching of the Reformation and CounterReformation as ‘sadistic’ (p. 60), demonstrating a preoccupation with hell. Badham proposes two moral escape routes from the ‘Bastille’ (p. 64) of hell. First, to describe God as ‘self-giving love’ is contrary to a language which attributes to God the idea of an unloving eternal confinement in hell (p. 64). Second, Jesus’ focus on a loving Father who desires that his will be done on earth as in heaven is incongruent with endless torture. In chapter seven, Badham begins by noting that ‘there is no area of Christian doctrine where our understanding differs more from that of our forerunners than in the ways we think of 3 heaven today’ (p. 68). Bultmann demolished the notion of a three-tiered universe and, in doing, caused the demise of an atmospheric heaven. Some theologians today argue for an eschatological heaven founded upon the bodily resurrection of Jesus at which time God will bring history to a close and create a new heaven and new earth. Others insist that heaven is theocentric; it is not a literal place, but rather in God Himself. As Badham correctly notes, such a position fails to engage with ‘the communion of the saints’ which ‘implies a social heaven’ (p. 75). Unbelievers may find trusting in God for life after death unconvincing; but, ‘for those to whom God is a reality, no basis could be more secure’ (p. 77). In a span of a few brief pages, Badham addresses many significant issues that face Christians today as they think about death and immortality. But, two matters in Badham’s work deserve attention. First, the book is obviously shaped by Badham’s embrace of Cartesian dualism. Is it, however, only the ‘soul’ which acts as the bearer of personhood? While we must take dualism seriously, dualism clearly does not have the final word and is not the authorized biblical anthropology. Physicalist theories of personhood have much to offer as well. It is quite possible that personhood is contained in the body. As such, there is no need for a metaphysical element such as the soul. Second, Badham’s explanation of a three-tiered universe and a spiritual resurrection sound suspiciously Bultmannian. While most would agree, as does Badham, that the three-tiered universe ‘is a view of reality that is no longer seriously held by anyone’ (p. 68), the notion of a spiritual resurrection is not as clear-cut as he would have us believe. Does a spiritual resurrection refer to the rise of faith in a person who hears the kerygma and responds favorably to it? His claim that the resurrection is merely spiritual dismisses the belief that Jesus’ resurrection is a bodily resurrection. The Apostle Paul wrote: ‘He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also 4 give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you’ (Rom. 8.11). Additionally, after his resurrection, Jesus is portrayed in Scripture not only as a spiritual figure but as an embodied person who eats, drinks, and relates with others. Badham’s book is a delightful read. While not lengthy, it remains thought-provoking. His dialectic of cultural-scientific criticism and biblical-theological acumen provides us with the resources for thinking about and ‘making sense of death and immortality.’ Ben D. Craver Wayland Baptist University