Triggered to Thinking

Dale Allison is an intriguing scholar in the field of Biblical Studies. Many apologists don’t particularly like his approach and will even label him as “not a real Christian”. At the same time, many skeptics can appreciate his candid honesty in evaluating the data and historical evidence concerning the emergence of Christianity. His book The Resurrection of Jesus: Apologetics, Polemics, History, released in April 2021,  was a remarkable achievement due to his ability to criticize apologetic and skeptical arguments relating to the resurrection of Jesus. Overall, Allison’s humility, honesty, and open-mindedness make me admire him greatly as a New Testament scholar.

One of Allison’s lesser-known works is the book Night Comes: Death, Imagination and the Last Things. I admire Allison’s honesty and intellectual curiosity when discussing questions about death, apocalypticism and the end of life in this work. He applies some of his same honesty with historical-critical methodologies as he does with metaphysical questions.

Chapter 1- Death and Fear

Allison begins the book by including some interesting anecdotes that he had when discussing Jewish views of the afterlife with his daughter and son. Allison expands on recent advances and how some scientists believe humans could live hundreds of years old (7). Allison writes, “Aubrey Grey, co-author of Ending Aging and editor of the scientific journal Rejuvenation Research, believes that medical advances will soon allow us to become as old as the mythical characters in the early chapters of Genesis” (7). 

Allison includes a personal story about him being hit by a drunk driver and asking the ambulance attendant, “Am I going to die?” and he responded with “Not yet” (10). He then relates his potential near-death experience with what was done by Abraham in The Testament of Abraham, and that was to bargain with God to remain alive. On a personal note, this resonated with me because I’ve had an experience similar to this where I thought I was going to die due to an accident. I can remember pleading with God to spare my life, and I would do my earnestly to live the best life possible and spend time helping the homeless as I used to, but I stopped when I reached adulthood. 

Dale discusses meeting with a fellow believer at an Easter Sunday service. He responded with the exclamation, “Christ is Risen,” and Allison repeated back the expression. Such expressions are common in Christian churches during Easter. Allison explains how, at the same time, “But in my gnostic self-conceit, my historical-critical arrogance, I wondered to myself how the heck do you know that” (13). 

I believe this is an illuminating and honest reflection on the theme of the chapter, which is death. Christ’s resurrection means that believers will not have to fear death anymore because they will be resurrected into eternal life after their death and the final judgement. However, as a scholar, Allison expresses his honest doubts about how we can be certain about this event due to the miraculous nature of the resurrection and what the limits of historical methods can yield. 

Chapter 2- Resurrection and Bodies

According to Christians, what does the human body look like at the resurrection? What was Jesus’s body like after his resurrection in the gospels? Allison records an interesting story from the church father, Gregory of Nyssa. Nyssa believed that when Jesus resurrected, he didn’t take his intestines with him, and in the world to come, we won’t need them either (23). This chapter thus explores a variety of views and discussions among church fathers and other religious ideas about the resurrection of the dead.

Allison finishes the chapter with a discussion on materialism. Allison opines, “If we cast aside literalism, resurrection language must suggest an eschatological future that transcends prosaic description, a future that can only be intimated through sacred metaphor and sanctified imagination (40). Resurrection wasn’t a belief that is reflected in the early books of the Hebrew Bible. Allison explains, “It was the belief that God won’t permit Israel to pine away in hopeless misery” (41).

Chapter 3- Judgement and Partiality 

Allison begins this chapter by exploring the concept of judgment in the New Testament (46-47). He relates many cultural examples and examples of history to show how judgement and justice are understood. How and what exactly is judgement? Any book on apocalyptic thought surely needs to confront the issue of post-mortem punishment. This is present in several religions, not only Abrahamic religions. Jainism, Buddhism and Hinduism have a concept called naraka, where people with evil actions can be reborn into a hell realm until their evil deeds have been purified. The reborn soul will continue to be reborn, thus filling out the concept of continual rebirth or samsara. Judgement is also found in ancient Egyptian religions and the ancient Iranian faith of Zoroastrianism. 

Allison next discussed the issue of justification and honestly describes how the New Testament has different views on justification. He writes, “The difficulty arises not only because Paul’s letters seem to be at odds with the Epistle of James and the Gospel of Matthew” and “Historically, Christians have been loath to espouse such conflicts within the canon” (49). Allison discusses neuroscientists’ work, their examinations of human neural activities, and how free will was seen to be an illusion according to them. In retrospect of a potential future judgment, Allison writes, “perceive the folly of our vain pursuits, when we’ll experience ourselves in the third person” (62). 

Chapter 4- Ignorance and Imagination 

Allison discusses the founder of the Salvation Army, William Booth, in this chapter. He describes himself as an ardent evangelist troubled at the idea of multitudes of people wallowing in eternal torment (74). However, he also mentions that Booth was interested in helping the needy in this life and that Booth believed in two gospels, one for each world. Booth here seems to be reflecting some views similar to what historians call “The Social Gospel”, which believed the primary focus of the gospel was to help deal with social problems like homelessness and hunger in this life. 

Allison mentions that “historically, eschatological doctrine has mediated moral instruction” (76). He mentions Matthew 25 and how it helped found medieval hospitals. Allison also mentions how ancient Egyptian religion, along with Judaism and Christianity, has used eschatology to impart ethics to its followers. 

In speaking of Jesus’s eschatology, Allison notes, “Jesus expected toll collectors and sinners to enter the kingdom; he welcomed them today: because the poor will inherit the earth, he embraced them now” (90). In relation to eschatology, Allison concludes this chapter by using Jesus’s teachings to make the world a better place. He writes, “We need the idealistic faith to move the mountains before us: commodity fetishism, oppressive governments, corrupting entertainment, narcissistic indifference” (91). 

Chapter 5 Hell and Sympathy 

In this chapter, Allison expresses his wrestling with the traditional Christian doctrine of hell. The conventional doctrine has bothered many Christian theologians, and while some believe it is necessary, others struggle with the idea of eternal torment. Modern-day Christians are divided between hell as a temporary place of purgation (universalism) or final annihilation. The view of the final annihilation has gained ground among many modern Christians, and not solely due to sentimentalism or due to liberal leanings on the Bible. 

Allison mentions how missionaries to Japan were faced with the dilemma of eternal suffering in hell and how the Japanese viewed their native faith as having more mercy than the traditional Christian doctrine of hell (96). Eternal hell has bothered many Christians going back to the time of Augustine. Allison mentions a fourth-century text called Vision of Paul, in which the damned aren’t tormented on Sundays or days of a religious feast (97).

Allison discusses the unsettling relationship that many modern Christians have with hell and how its popularity has dwindled among Zoroastrians (101). Allison later surveys some of the arguments against an eternal hell and discusses some Egyptian texts and the Talmud on how the damned are punished and then destroyed (113-114). I couldn’t agree with Allison more when he ends the chapter by saying, “Perhaps it would be incautious to endorse, without reservation, Isaac and his fellow universalist- Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, Hans Denck, Jane Leade, J. A Bengel, Thomas Erskine, George MacDonald, Sergius Bulgakov, Jacques Ellul, John Hick and Marilyn McCord Adams. I nonetheless ardently hope they’re right, and I don’t understand anyone who feels differently”. (118). 

Chapter 6 Heaven and Experience

Allison discusses angels and the angelic future of human beings in the last chapter. Allison notes, “It may even be that those that stood on pillars, such as Simeon Stylites, were seeking by their peculiar behaviour to imitate the angels” (131). On a personal note, the Desert Fathers have always interested me. The Stylites stood on pillars and were a fascinating example of retreating from the world to devote themselves to the Christian life. They experienced a different kind of spirituality than what many modern Christians do. 

Allison covers a brief history of the doctrine of Heaven and how it has differed among Christian authors. NDE or near-death experiences are discussed, and how those experiencing these can have visions related to a place called Heaven. When bringing the book to an end, Allison writes, “A third approach is to explore what the human experience has to say. Maybe not all mediums are frauds, and maybe, as William James thought, the rare exception is on occasion in touch with more than their subconscious selves” (147). 

In conclusion, Allison’s book on eschatology and the afterlife is interesting and unusual. He combines history, theology, world religions, literature, and neuroscience to examine critical questions about death and the next life. He is honest, and his deep reflections on these issues are to be commended. Anyone interested in eschatology and the history of the afterlife should read this book.