Decreation

Paul J. Griffiths is Warren Chair of Catholic Theology at Duke Divinity School.

Preface and Acknowledgements Part I: The Grammar of the Last Things 1 Lexicon 2 Last Things Defined 3 Annihilation: The First Last Thing 4 Simple Stasis: The Second Last Thing 5 Repetitive Stasis: The Third Last Thing 6 Epektasy: Denying Last Things 7 Iconicity: Representing Last Things Part II: Doctrine About Last Things 8 Theology and Last Things 9 Doctrine and Last Things 10 The Doctrinal Schema 11 The Narrative Arc 12 Patterns of Thought Part III: Timespace 13 The Lord's Eternity 14 The Chronic Temporality of Creatures 15 Time Damaged: Metronome 16 Time Healed: Liturgy, Systole, Fold Part IV: Angels 17 Thinking About Angels 18 What Angels Are 19 Angelic Fall 20 Angelic Last Things Part V: Humans 21 Human Flesh 22 The Discarnate Intermediate State 23 Human Last Things (1): Annihilation 24 Human Last Things (2): Heaven 25 Hell Reconstrued 26 The Church's Last Thing Part VI: Plants, Animals, Inanimate Creatures 27 Plants and Animals 28 The Last Things of Plants and Animals 29 Inanimate Creatures 30 The Last Things of Inanimate Creatures Part VII: The Last Things in the Devastation 31 Opus Domini 32 Trembling 33 Delight 34 Lament 35 Quietus Part VIII: Bibliography 36 Bibliographic Essays 37 Bibliographic List

A consummate work of impressively detailed theological scholarship... -- Paul T. Vogel -- The Midwest Book Review Informed amateur theologians as well as trained ones, readers who enjoy a rigorously thoughtful writer, and Christians seeking to hone a greater intellectual connection to their faith will find this a rewarding and stimulating book. -- Russell E. Saltzman -- Aleteia A major work on the traditional theme of the last things. -- Neil Ormerod -- Theological Studies A stimulating theological study. -- Choice This is a remarkable book. In the clarity and care of its argumentation it is a model of theological method. While treating questions that have sometimes been relegated to the fringe of Christian theological enquiry, it sheds new light on topics across the range of theological concerns: the nature of time, tears, and political quietism, to name but a few. -- David Clough -- Anglican Theological Review The bookas expansiveness shows how valuable and needed it is for theologians to reflect on the last things, and Griffithsas volume will surely be a benchmark for a long time to come on this topic. -- David Cloutier -- The Journal of Religion No one reading this book can fail to admire the creativity, energy and originality of its author, and perhaps to some extent its audacity. -- Celia Deane-Drummond -- International Journal of Systematic Theology There is a kind of sobriety in evidence here, most of all in the lucidity of the prose and the delimitations of the project. But there is also an enraptured, unadulterated pleasure of the soul at worka|The result is sublime. -- Brad East -- Marginalia Review of Books