Ancient afterlife beliefs

  The allowance of damnation: Irenaeus of Lyons and John of Damascus According to some, the idea that ‘unending damnation’ (either as unending torments or permanent annihilation ) is merely allowed and not ‘imposed’ by God is a recent idea. However, in what follows, I provide some quotes from Irenaeus of Lyons (fl. 2 nd century) and John of Damascus (fl. 8 th century) that seem to imply that, indeed, if there is such a thing as ‘unending damnation’ it might, indeed, be allowed by God rather than truly imposed. The idea might be compared to the following scenario: let’s say that someone decides to smoke. If the person continues to smoke, it becomes harder and harder to quit smoking as time passes. At the extreme limit, it might be the case that the obstinate smoker reaches a point in which ceasing to smoke becomes impossible . At that point, it might be argues that even with the help of others, the smoker can’t stop smoking. In a similar way, it might be the case that sinnin...

  Plato and the fate of the ‘incurable souls’ The ancient Greek philosopher Plato is (fl. 5-4 th century BC) is widely known to have incorporated in his dialogues the notion of the transmigration of souls, i.e. ‘reincarnation’. What is less known, is that in some of his dialogues he also speaks of unending torments for the worst sinners, those, that is, whose souls have become incurable [1] : “But those who appear to be incurable, on account of the greatness of their wrongdoings, because they have committed many great deeds of sacrilege, or wicked and abominable murders, or any other such crimes, are cast by their fitting destiny into Tartarus, whence they never emerge.” (Phaedo, §113; source: https://topostext.org/work/91 ) “But of those who have done extreme wrong and, as a result of such crimes, have become incurable, of those are the examples made; no longer are they profited at all themselves, since they are incurable, but others are profited who behold them undergoing...