The Resurrection of the wicked : a biblical-theological evaluation of Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant perspectives

Abstract

This study purposes to evaluate biblically and theologically the various views held by Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestants on the resurrection of the wicked. Chapter 1 focuses on the background of the study and survey of relevant literature that was written on the resurrection of the wicked and various comparative studies done among major Christian traditions. Chapters 2, 3, and 4 present and analyze the views of Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestants in a descriptive line. Chapter 5 evaluates Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant teachings of the resurrection of the wicked based on the biblical-theological perspectives offered. The evaluation reveals that these three traditions can be categorized into two main groups. The first group is the immortalist-monoresurrectionists which includes Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant traditions (Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Baptist to some extent). This group believes that there is only one single general resurrection of all the dead at the Second Coming (monoresurrection); the resurrection of the wicked is a literal bodily resurrection because the soul is immortal, and the resurrected body of the wicked is changed into immortal and incorruptible in order to endure endless (immortalist) punishment in the hellfire. This view hardly harmonizes with Scripture which rather supports the mortalist-polyresurrectionist view, the position that Seventh-day Adventist comes closer to. This second group believes in a two-phase resurrection where the resurrection of the wicked is separated from that of the righteous by a millennium. According to that position, the resurrected wicked with their unchanged state are simply annihilated by the hellfire that is the second death. Chapter 6 is allocated for the conclusion of the study with recommendations for further areas of study.