Augustine’s Eschatological Vision: The Dynamism of Seeing and Seeking God in Heaven

Abstract

Many modern theologians interpret Augustine’s conception of the afterlife in contrast to that of Gregory of Nyssa as a static, passive, and individualistic vision of God that is utterly discontinuous with our present lives. I argue in this paper that upon closer analysis Augustine’s use of the commonly recognized concepts of peace, rest, joy, and vision is open to and even suggestive of a more dynamic afterlife and that attentiveness to his descriptions of heavenly praise and the society of angels or city of God and to his exegesis of Ps. 105:4 (“quaerite faciem eius semper”) reveals that Augustine understood heaven to be dynamic, active, and social, bearing a large degree of continuity with life in this world. Conducting this study of the ways Augustine imagines eternal life with God summons further study of his eschatology which moves beyond the reductive reading that has dominated the last century.