This mortal life: ageing and spirituality after the Great Transition

ABSTRACT

This chapter addresses the implications for ageing and pastoral practice of the rapid increase in life expectancy that has occurred over the past 150 years; often referred to as ‘The Great Transition’. Following a discussion of this feature of human life the chapter briefly considers some theological dimensions of ageing and the purpose of life in older years. Consideration is given to the denial of death and the consequent loss of a sense of human mortality and our status as creatures. The chapter concludes with a brief discussion of the dignity of persons associated with a theological understanding of human beings as bearers of the imago Dei. The pastoral implications of this affirmation show the importance of a richer understanding of the human person that transcends the biomedical paradigm.

KEYWORDS:

• Ageing
• mortality
• death
• theology

Notes

1. In 1974, Becker’s book was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction.

2. Becker’s appeal to ‘immortality systems’, whilst a nice rhetorical move, shifts the focus from the usual sense of immortal as endless life to an issue of ultimate meaning. See Splett (1975, pp. 687–689).

3. To the extent that the biomedical paradigm has become the dominant hermeneutic for the human being Rahner’s theological affirmation cannot but appear anachronist however insightful it remains through the eyes of faith.

4. Radner (2016) states: ‘Divine love offers this life as a gift, and God finally takes that life to himself. Hence the limits of human life also define the nature of divine love as we know it’. (124).

5. See, for example, Mackinlay and Trevitt (2012).

6. The Apostle Paul’s statement is apposite at this point: ‘hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us’ Romans 5: 5). Hope is based on the reality and nearness of Divine love. Yet it is a wager. I have in mind something akin to Pascal’s famous wager, an argument in philosophy that posits that humans bet with their lives that God either exists or does not. Pascal argued that a rational person should live as though God exists and seek to believe in God. If God does not actually exist, such a person will have only a finite loss (some pleasures, luxury, etc.), whereas if God does exist, he stands to receive infinite gains (as represented by eternity in Heaven) and avoid infinite losses (eternity in Hell). Pascal’s Wager was based on the idea of the Christian God though similar arguments have occurred in other religious traditions. The original wager was set out in Pascal’s posthumously published Pensées (Thoughts).