Very timely publication, as I was just grappling with these matters of reincarnation and karma earlier today. Reincarnation makes more teleological sense to me than does the stark finality of what's typically understood as orthodox Christian eschatology, but it seems intuitively repugnant to explain the senseless suffering of an innocent child as the just karmic consequence of some proportionate evil committed by the soul of that child in a previous life.
If I'm understanding you correctly, are you positing that the phenomenon of past life memories may arise from a sort of "tapping into" the collective memory of the Body of Christ along lines of qualitative resonance or harmonic affinity between particular souls who share in that same communal Body?
On past life memories, yes, that seems to be what Clément is saying (I've also wrestled with this issue and have read quite a bit of Ian Stevenson's research). One thing I realized from reading David Ray Griffin's comments on past-life memories in "Parapsychology, Philosophy, and Spirituality" was that there are many possible explanations for this phenomenon that do not involve reincarnation as classically conceived... I am not sure there is really any rational/empirical way to come to "the truth" on this matter, so personally I am grateful to see Clément's take -- from my perspective, all I can do is situate myself within the *total* framework of the faith, which in Clément's case and my own is traditional but with a deep personalist inflection, and see what explanations resonate within that framework.
My only other little observation would be on the "stark finality" -- I think that coloring of the Christian teaching is not necessarily the only one available, cf. Clément's later comments on the Fathers who were able to take Origen's speculations into an Orthodox vision of the person's post-mortem existence. There is a vast richness hidden where "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man."
I have been meaning to look into the research of Ian Stevenson and Jim B. Tucker as well. And I do appreciate the more open-ended visions of Christian eschatology inspired by Origen and some other Church Fathers, at least insofar as I've absorbed their ideas secondhand. I'm convinced that the experiential and intentional structure of our reality necessitates that its states always be oriented towards the continual growth and purification of the soul, so as to lead towards an ever greater apprehension of the divine. And so I think that any states of the soul after this life must necessarily be didactic in some sense rather than static and perpetual in nature.
Will have to start following you here now that you're no longer on X. Many thanks for your reply!
I forgot to mention: I think that the more open-ended eschatological visions we're talking about seem more compatible with the ambiguity of the term "aionian" (literally "of an age," "age-abiding," or "age-enduring" afaik) used by Christ with reference to eschatological matters, as compared to its typical interpretation as meaning "eternal" or "everlasting."
But perhaps the stark finality of the more mainstream eschatological vision (even if false) does have the benefit of fostering a certain urgency that has helped Christian societies to avoid moral apathy, at least for those who don't think too much about the metaphysical implications!
Completely agree with that last observation, and just recently read St Dorotheos of Gaza saying exactly the same thing -- on the topic of the fear of the Judgment!
Very timely publication, as I was just grappling with these matters of reincarnation and karma earlier today. Reincarnation makes more teleological sense to me than does the stark finality of what's typically understood as orthodox Christian eschatology, but it seems intuitively repugnant to explain the senseless suffering of an innocent child as the just karmic consequence of some proportionate evil committed by the soul of that child in a previous life.
If I'm understanding you correctly, are you positing that the phenomenon of past life memories may arise from a sort of "tapping into" the collective memory of the Body of Christ along lines of qualitative resonance or harmonic affinity between particular souls who share in that same communal Body?
Thanks for this edifying article! God bless 🙏
On past life memories, yes, that seems to be what Clément is saying (I've also wrestled with this issue and have read quite a bit of Ian Stevenson's research). One thing I realized from reading David Ray Griffin's comments on past-life memories in "Parapsychology, Philosophy, and Spirituality" was that there are many possible explanations for this phenomenon that do not involve reincarnation as classically conceived... I am not sure there is really any rational/empirical way to come to "the truth" on this matter, so personally I am grateful to see Clément's take -- from my perspective, all I can do is situate myself within the *total* framework of the faith, which in Clément's case and my own is traditional but with a deep personalist inflection, and see what explanations resonate within that framework.
My only other little observation would be on the "stark finality" -- I think that coloring of the Christian teaching is not necessarily the only one available, cf. Clément's later comments on the Fathers who were able to take Origen's speculations into an Orthodox vision of the person's post-mortem existence. There is a vast richness hidden where "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man."
Many thanks for your comment!
I have been meaning to look into the research of Ian Stevenson and Jim B. Tucker as well. And I do appreciate the more open-ended visions of Christian eschatology inspired by Origen and some other Church Fathers, at least insofar as I've absorbed their ideas secondhand. I'm convinced that the experiential and intentional structure of our reality necessitates that its states always be oriented towards the continual growth and purification of the soul, so as to lead towards an ever greater apprehension of the divine. And so I think that any states of the soul after this life must necessarily be didactic in some sense rather than static and perpetual in nature.
Will have to start following you here now that you're no longer on X. Many thanks for your reply!
I forgot to mention: I think that the more open-ended eschatological visions we're talking about seem more compatible with the ambiguity of the term "aionian" (literally "of an age," "age-abiding," or "age-enduring" afaik) used by Christ with reference to eschatological matters, as compared to its typical interpretation as meaning "eternal" or "everlasting."
But perhaps the stark finality of the more mainstream eschatological vision (even if false) does have the benefit of fostering a certain urgency that has helped Christian societies to avoid moral apathy, at least for those who don't think too much about the metaphysical implications!
Completely agree with that last observation, and just recently read St Dorotheos of Gaza saying exactly the same thing -- on the topic of the fear of the Judgment!
Well met here -- who were/are you on X?