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This article appears in the Eschatology issue of Trinity News , the magazine of Trinity Church-St. Paul's Chapel.
The Second Coming, Armageddon, and the End of Days have always been popular topics of discussion among Christian thinkers. But how do other religions view the subject?
By Eliza Shallcross
BUDDHISM
The Buddhist concept of life after death is not one of a soul ascending into heaven, but rather of reincarnation into a new body on the earth we already know. The Buddhist aim is to grow closer to nirvana with each life by becoming increasingly more spiritual in each reincaranation. Nirvana, however, is not a physical place. The Buddhist teacher Nagasena used an analogy of the wind. Just as you cannot see the wind, nor measure its width or height, so it is not possible to explain nirvana. One imperfect human explanation might be that nirvana is a condition of the soul where all self-knowledge is finally subsumed into a blinding awareness of true reality.
HINDUISM
In the Hindu faith, earth is merely a reflection of heaven. That reflection, though, does not mean the world is formed in the way that those of us still stuck in the earthly condition envision it. Like Buddhists, Hindus believe in a cycle of reincarnation. At each person’s core is a hidden self called the atman, which is a reflection of the universal brahman, or godhead. A part of the brahman is also present in each person, but usually both the atman and the brahman are buried so deeply beneath human desires and other distractions that little, if any, is visible. The Hindu aim is to purify the bodily self of all worldly elements until the atman and brahman become one. When they do, the soul breaks free from the cycle of birth and death to achieve a state called moksha, very similar to the Buddhist nirvana.
ISLAM
The Islamic views on death and the afterlife are probably far more familiar to Christians. Belief in a Day of Judgment is one of the basic tenets of the Koran. Muslims have a brief opportunity to choose between the Heavens or the Hells by their actions during their lives in this world. On the Day of Judgment, Allah will send each soul to the place that he or she has earned. The Koran offers detailed descriptions of the afterlife, and djanna, the “Garden of Allah,” is described as a place where virtuous believers will finally enjoy all the pleasures of the world forbidden to them during life.
JUDAISM
The Jewish faith also believes in a forthcoming end of the world. As the end comes near, conflict will increase, until finally God sends a human Messiah who is descended from the House of David, creating a new order. Until the coming of the Messiah, souls ascend to God for a preliminary judgment and cleansing and stay there until the coming of the bodily resurrection at the end of days.
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