Abstract
This book offers nine essays which explore the article of the Apostles’ Creed on Christ’s descent from various theological perspectives: biblical, historical, spiritual, pastoral, and systematic; in addition, it contains a study on comparable ideas in Judaism and another on the theme of the descent of a Christlike figure into the netherworld in a computer game. As the editors explain in their introductory essay, the volume is first a practical application of reflections on method in theology that were published earlier (Archibald van Wieringen, ed., Theologie en methode, 2012) and which advocated for the necessity of a multidisciplinary approach in the study of complex theological themes. The volume shows the fruitfulness of such an approach. In what follows the focus will be on contributions of more specifically systematic-theological interest.
Regarding the biblical background, W. provides the reader with a detailed overview of New Testament texts concerning Christ’s descent to the netherworld (the neutral term he uses instead of “Hell”). He places these texts in the context of biblical views on the whole of the cosmos as composed of heaven and earth with the netherworld as part of the earth and in the context of the later theology of resurrection. (The compartmentalization of the underworld in hell, purgatory, limbo of the infants and limbo of the Fathers is a development of Scholastic theology.) Although W. stresses that the exegesis of 1 Peter 3:19 (often considered a core biblical support for belief in Christ’s descent) is uncertain, and despite the reservations Augustine had with regard to the validity of this passage as reference for Christ’s descent (see Paul J. J. van Geest’s contribution on Augustine, 50–52), Sarot still presents 1 Peter 3:18–22 as scriptural warrant for this article of faith.
From Gerard A. M. Rouwhorst’s study of early Christian liturgical texts—mainly hymns and sermons—the reader learns that the theme of Christ’s descent was much more important in Eastern liturgies than in the West, whereas an article on Christ’s descent is found mainly in Western Creeds. Rouwhorst also stresses that in these liturgical sources most often Christ is not described as preaching (as 1 Pet. 3:19 says) in the underworld but as conquering Death and Satan and thus liberating humanity.
Harm J. M. J. Goris shows that Aquinas’s view of Christ’s descent changed over the years with regard to the question whether Christ suffered in the underworld. In the Summa Theologiae, he declares that Christ descended into hell in order to freely carry the punishment of sinners in solidarity with them so as to free them—as a way of applying the salvation he had worked by dying on the cross to those who died before him. That Aquinas could understand the meaning of Christ’s descent in this way has bearing on the ongoing debate on Hans Urs von Balthasar’s theology of Holy Saturday.
According to Joseph Ratzinger, whose theology of Christ’s descent is presented by Toke Elshof, this descent shows Christ’s willingness to suffer with those who suffer separation from God as consequence of sin. Neither this human experience nor Christ’s descent is restricted to the situation after death; Ratzinger understands already Christ’s baptism in the Jordan as a descent into human suffering and sin. Elshof highlights Ratzinger’s conviction that Christian baptism brings the gift of participation in Christ’s descent and ascent, which means that Christians are called to follow Christ in being close to their neighbors who live in hellish situations.
In the concluding essay, Sarot underlines that there is no single interpretation of the creedal article on Christ’s descent but a range of possible interpretations. Taking up ideas of Gavin d’Costa, S. presents Christ’s descent as an answer to the question of how people who are not reached by Christ’s message—not only those who lived before Christ, but also those living after him—can nevertheless be saved: Christ preaching to the dead (1 Pet 3:19) enables the just among them to make explicit their implicit orientation towards God. In order to argue for the possibility of conversion after death (a question raised already in patristic times) S. (wrongly, in my view) wants to understand purification (in purgatory) as a kind of conversion.
Despite this demurral, I strongly recommend study of that book to everybody who wants to make a meaningful contribution on Christ’s descent. It is an invaluable source of information on questions related to Christ’s descent and offers stimulating reflections. More careful proofreading, an expanded index of sources, an index of the names of authors cited in the footnotes, and a short presentation of the contributors would have made the book even more useful.