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From the Associate&
Sheol
During Lent, several people asked Fr. Bill and I about Purgatory. Does it exist? Who goes there? What is the scriptural foundation for such a teaching, if indeed there is one? I decided that I would write several columns, briefly looking at the Catholic Church's teaching on Purgatory, Hell and Heaven. But, in order to do that, we must begin with their background, that is, how the Old Testament thought about the afterlife. Thus, we begin with 'Sheol.'
The Old Testament authors did not speak of heaven, hell and purgatory, but of 'Sheol,' (Deut. 32:22; Proverbs 8:18) otherwise spoken of as the 'Netherworld,' or the 'Place of the Dead.' (Sometimes it is translated into English as 'hell,' the 'grave,' or the 'pit.') The ancients believed, that just as dead bodies fell to the earth and decomposed, so also their spirits entered the earth (Amos 9:2). These spirits landed in a place called Sheol (possibly meaning "to be hollow"), which is described as a place of shadows, gloomy, almost of non-existence. Sometimes Sheol is described mythologically, as a place that can destroy the living: "Therefore Sheol has enlarged its appetite and opened its mouth beyond measure; the nobility of Jerusalem and her multitude go down" (Isaiah 5:14). Only in later Judaism, was it believed that God separated the souls of the just from the wicked, within the confines of Sheol, and this teaching entered into some of the New Testament data: e.g. "When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slaughtered from the word of God and for the testimony they had given" (Revelations 6:9). "Under the altar," has been interpreted as the place of the just, in Sheol.
'Hell' is an anglo-saxon transliteration of the word, 'Sheol' (Hades in Greek). Only as theology develops, do we come to define 'Hell' as the place of the eternally damned. We use its original meaning (as Sheol), however, when we pray the creed: "We believe& in Jesus, who died& and descended into Hell ." We do not mean that Jesus descended into the place of the eternally damned, but to the 'Place of the Dead' ('Sheol'), where pre-Christian souls awaited his coming (cf. Mt. 27:52 and 1 Peter 3:18-20).
Why are purgatory, heaven and hell not clearly defined in the Old Testament? One must understand that theology develops over time. Our understanding of God and revelation deepens through the years, as the Holy Spirit enlightens the Church. (1) This is because revelation is Alive (and living things, grow), it is not just found in black and white on a page in a book, rather, it uses a written form (the Bible) as a means to an end: to be communicated to the hearts and minds of believers, it's true dwelling place. (2) It is also because humans learn in bits and pieces, which is why we go to school for so long. The matter of God's self-revelation is no different. We, who are the church, continue to deepen our understanding of Who God is, and what God has said, across the centuries. Specifically, when it comes to the doctrines of heaven, hell and
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