RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Immortality
The words in John, alleged to have been spoken by Jesus, are alien to the rest of his teaching both in this Gospel and in the synoptics. The statement in Luke is not so conclusive as it seems at first sight, for it must be interpreted by the practical interest which elsewhere dominates the Master's teaching, and particularly by verses 35, 36. With Jesus, life was a supremely ethical affair, and neither he nor Paul appears to have considered life or immortality from a speculative point of view. The argument that the permanence of life is based on the fact that life is a thought of God, and God will not suffer his thought to perish, is open to three serious questions: (1) Whether in the sight of God human life is such a thought that even though it is at present the highest expression of his will, God can not permit it to fall back into the order from which it arose, as is the case with all other forms of existence. (2) Whether this preservation would be true of all souls or only of those who cooperate with him in the fulfilment of his thought. (3) Whether, finally, the human type is the basis of a yet higher disclosure of the divine purpose, and this being realized, the type as such shall pass away. Conditional immortality may not be ruled out of court as if it had no rational standing (see Annihilationism) . For, first, appeal may be made to the biological law that function determines structure and ultimately organism: accordingly degeneration even to the loss of important organs is as truly characteristic of evolution as is progress. Secondly, it is especially true of man that the ideals of personality are either achieved by conscious striving, or lost by inattention. In comparison with lower orders of life, man may have reached that degree of stability whereby he survives the shock of death (cf. J. Fiske, Destiny of Man Viewed in the Light of His Origin, Boston, 1884), but even this would not necessarily involve for every one an endless existence. That which has been gained by the " will to live " (Schopenhauer) may also ultimately perish by refusal to live. According to the Gospel of John life is not a necessitated natural duration, but an ethical endeavor: Greek immortality gives place to " eternal life " (John xvii. 3). After all, the truest description of man's relation to a future life may be " immortality " (cf. S. D. McConnell, Evolution of Immortality, New York, 1901; W R. Huntington, Conditional Immortality, ib. 1878. See Eschatology). The deepest reason for immortality is teleological : on the one hand, in the infinite ideals addressed to the human will; on the other hand, in the progressive realization of these ideals in which alone the universe becomes intelligible for consciousness. In the partial but increasing meaning of reality which is disclosed in individual consciousness is a ground of hope that this consciousness will endure as a center in which the purpose of the universe shall be both revealed and realized (cf. J. Royce, Conception of Immortality, Boston, 1900). Since all life is controlled by ends that attract and yet are hidden, and man does not fully reach these ends in this world, and can progressively attain them, if at all, only in an endless advance, his very incompleteness is his mightiest witness to immortality. For the perplexing problem of the relation of personal
identity and memory to the life after death, cf. H. Miinsterberg, The Eternal Life (Boston, 1905). The most important recent literature bearing on this subject is the series of Ingersoll Lectures on Immortality given annually at Harvard University as follows: G. A. Gordon, Immortality and the New Theodicy, Boston, 1897; W. James, Human Immortality, Boston, 1898; B. I. Wheeler, Dionysius and Immortality, Boston, 1899; J. Royce, Conception of Immortality, Boston, 1900; J. Fiske, Life Everlasting, Boston, 1901; W. Osier, Science and Immortality, Boston, 1904; S. M. Crothers, The Endless Life, Boston, 1905; H. Miinsterberg, The Eternal Life, Boston, 1905; C. F. Dole, Hope of Immortality, New York, 1906; W Ostwald, Individuality and Immortality, Boston, 1906; W S. Bigelow, Buddhism and Immortality, Boston, 1908. C. A. B.
Bibliography: The earlier literature in wonderfully complete and classified form is in E. Abbot, The Literature of the Doctrine of a Future Life, included in W. R. Alger's Destiny of the Soul, a Critical History of the Doctrine of a Future Life, Boston, 1880; cf. J. H. Hurst, Literature of Theology, pp. 495-497, New York, 1896. For the Biblical belief, besides the O. T. Theology of H. Schultz, London, 1892, and the N. T. Theology of W. Beyschlag, Edinburgh, 1896, consult: J. Challis, An Essay on the Scripture Doctrine of Immortality, London, 1880; F. Schwally, Das Leben nach dem Tode nach den Vorstellungen des alten Israel und des Judenthums, Giessen, 1892; A. Chambers, Our Life after Death: or, the Teaching of the Bible concerning the Unseen World, London, 1894; J. Frey, Tod, Seelenglaube und Seelenkult im alten Israel, Leipsic, 1898; L. A. Muirhead, The Terms Life and Death in the Old and New Testament, Glasgow, 1908.
On the general subject, besides the works named in the text, consult: H. Schultz, Die V oraussetzungen der christlichen Lehre von der Unsterblichkeit, Gottingen, 1861; A. Immer, Der Unsterblichkeitsglaube im Lichte der Geschichte und der gegenwartigen Wissenschaft, Bern, 1868; R. S. Candlish, Life in a Risen Savior; an Exposition of I Cor. xv., London, 1863; K. Wilmarshof, Das Jenseits, ein wissenschaftlicher Versuch zur Lbsung der Unsterblichkeitsfrage, Leipsic, 1863-66; L. Figuier, The To-morrow of Death, or, the Future Life according to Science, Boston, 1872; T. A. Goodwin, The Mode of Man's Immortality, New York, 1874; A. B. Blackwell, Physical Basis of Immortality, New York, 1876; B. Stewart and P. G. Tait, The Unseen Universe, London, 1876 (from the standpoint of physical science); J. W. Rinck, Vom Zustande der Seele nach dem Tode, Basel, 1878; G. Teichmuller, Ueber die Unsterblichkeit der Seele, Leipsic, 1879; W R. Hart, Eternal Purpose; a Study in the Scripture Doctrine of Immortality, Philadelphia, 1882; G. A. Gordon, The Witness to Immortality in Literature, Philosophy and Life, Boston, 1883; L. Schneider, Die Unsterblichkeitsidee im Glauben und der Philosophie der V biker, Regensburg, 1883; E. Naville, La Vie eternelle, Paris, 1884; E. Petavel-Ollif, Le Probleme de I'immortalite, 2 vols., Lausanne, 1891-92, Eng. transl., The Problem of Immortality, New York. 1893; A. Sabatier, Essai sur I'immortalite au point de vue du naturalisme evolutioniste, Paris, 1895; E. Rohde, Psyche, Freiburg, 1898 (a classic; deals with Greek and Roman ideas); V. L. Bernier, Spiritualite el immortalite, La Chape'lle-Montligeon, 1901; H. Cremer, Ueber den Zustand nach dem Tode, Gutersloh, 1901; S. D. F. Salmond, The Christian Doctrine of Immortality, Edinburgh, 1901; W. Schneider, Das andere Leben, Paderborn, 1902; A. Chambers, Our Life after Death, London, 1903; W. Chester, Immortality a Rational Faith, New York, 1903; G T Fechner, Buchlein von dem Leben nach dem Tode, Hamburg, 1903; C. W. Leadbeater, The Other Side of Death Scientifically Examined, Chicago, 1903; H. A. A. Kennedy, St. Paul's Conceptions of the Last Things, London, 1904; L. Elbe", La Vie future, Paris, 1905; J. H. Hys'lop, Science and a Future Life, London, 1905; K. Andersen, Die Unsterblichkeitsfrage, Leipsic, 1906; G. Fell Immortality of the Human Soul Philosophically Explained, London, 1906; L. Elbe-, Future Life in the Light of Ancient Wisdom and Modern Science, London,
Immortality Imputation