Humankind has entered into a new phase in its history. Never before has the human race been so aware of its relationship with the world and the universe. New discoveries in science, physics, and psychology have raised questions about the nature of reality and our relationship with the material order, that is, the world and the universe. Scientists tell us that we are part of a universe which is an intimately interrelated system. Each one of us is an indispensable part of the earth, the sun, and the stars. traditional ways in which

These discoveries call into question many of the death and dying have been understood. The church has many teachings about what happens at and after death. These teachings about the "last things" are called eschatological teachings. In the Christian tradition death has been understood as the separation of the soul from the body. The church has taught that at death each person is judged, rewarded, or condemned to heaven, hell or purgatory, there to wait for the second coming of Christ, the resurrection of the body, and the final consummation of the world.

Are these images of death, such as the soul separating from the body, purgatory, place of atonement, resurrection as a resuscitation of our present physical bodies, and the second coming of Christ as a specific event which will take place on a predictable day, compatible with the present human understanding of who we are and what the world is?

What really are the teachings of the church about death and dying and what do they have to do with the person in the world today?

Karl Rahner, S.J. was one of the greatest theologians of this century. His pastoral concern was to present the Christian message in a way that was understandable to persons in today's world. While he held that the basic faith content of the doctrinal teachings of the church remains constant, he also maintained that these doctrinal teachings must be questioned anew by each age so that they are meaningful for persons today.

Rahner was particularly concerned with the teachings of the church on death and life after death. Rahner thought that the eschatological teachings of the church (the teachings on death and life after death) were presented in images which were not meaningful to the contemporary person. He felt that "the idea of an afterlife which was completely separated from or at odds with this world was not compatible with our present understanding of our relatio ship with the world and the universe.

In NEW IMAGES OF THE LAST THINGS, Dr. Marie Murphy presents th

profound insights of Father Rahner into the "last things" and demonstrates

how his methods give new life to the traditional teachings of the church.