Fr. James Brent, O.P., a Dominical priest, discusses how Jesus' death transformed the meaning of death, freeing humanity from fear. He explores the Christian perspective on resurrection, baptism, and eternal life through Christ's sacrifice.
Christ's victory over death redefined it as a step towards eternal life.
Death, once permanent, became transient through Christ's resurrection and conquered permanence.
Deep dives
The Lord's Victory Over Death
Christ's death and resurrection changed the perception of death from a permanent state to a transitory condition. Before Christ's resurrection, death was considered a terminal point, marking the end of natural life. However, through his victory over death, Christ transformed it into an entry point leading to new life and resurrection. By showing that death is a temporary condition and that it can be overcome, Christ's sacrifice redefined the concept of death as a step in a journey towards eternal life.
Christ's Defeat of Death's Permanence
Christ's death and subsequent resurrection demonstrated the defeat of death's permanence. Previously viewed as a permanent state where souls remained in the abode of the dead forever, death became comparable to sleep in Christ. His ability to walk out of the abode of the dead illustrated that death was no longer an insurmountable end but a transient phase. By uniting the eternal Word with his soul, Christ broke the power and permanence of death through his resurrection, ensuring that death is not the final destination but a passage to resurrection and eternal life.
This talk was given as part of the Thomistic Institute's Holy Week Retreat, April 9-12, 2020. For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website: thomisticinstitute.org.
About the speaker:
Fr. James Dominic Brent, O.P. was born and raised in Michigan. He pursued his undergraduate and graduate studies in Philosophy, and completed his doctorate in Philosophy at Saint Louis University on the epistemic status of Christian beliefs according to Saint Thomas Aquinas. He has articles in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy on Natural Theology, in the Oxford Handbook of Thomas Aquinas on “God’s Knowledge and Will”, and an article forthcoming on “Thomas Aquinas” in the Oxford Handbook of the Epistemology of Theology. He earned his STL from the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception, and was ordained a priest in the same year. He taught in the School of Philosophy at The Catholic University of America from 2010- 2014, and spent the year of 2014-2015 doing full time itinerant preaching on college campuses across the United States.
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