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"Life, Love, & Light" with Veronica Mary Rolf
In the FIRST SEASON of "Life, Love, & Light" podcasts, we delve into the wisdom of the beloved medieval mystic, JULIAN OF NORWICH, to discover how her "Revelations of Divine Love" may inspire, encourage, and guide us on our own spiritual path. The first episode is entitled "Sheltering in Place" and introduces Julian of Norwich, an enclosed anchorite who received sixteen Revelations of Divine Love and heard Christ tell her: "All shall be well, and all shall be well, and thou shalt see thyself that all manner of thing shall be well." The season includes twenty-five episodes with Guided Meditations following each episode. In the SECOND SEASON, we meet a fascinating variety of Old and New Testament BIBLICAL MYSTICS. We discover men and women who faced major challenges and crises in their lives, made some really big mistakes, were forgiven, received mystical revelations, and then dared to act on those revelations. Their stories may become powerful inspirations in our own time of crisis, fear, and uncertainty. In the THIRD SEASON, we discuss THE MYSTICAL PATH and consider what is involved in following such a path – not only through the practice of contemplative prayer – but in every aspect of our daily lives. We explore the three stages of the mystical path and discuss how to deal with distractions, dullness, and agitation in order to focus on silence, stillness, and surrender, toward a deeper union with God. In the Guided Meditations, we practice becoming aware of thoughts, emotions, and memories that arise, without becoming attached to them. In the FOURTH SEASON, we delve into the all-important but rarely discussed topic of Resurrection, based on my recent award winning book, "LIVING RESURRECTED LIVES: WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT MATTERS," co-authored by my daughter, Eva Natanya, PhD. In the first episode -- entitled "What is Resurrection?" -- we consider ancient Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and Hebrew ideas about the afterlife: what it was, what it was not. Then we examine biblical references to life after death in the psalms, prophets, apocalyptic literature, and the Book of Wisdom. Following episodes examine the four biblical accounts of Christ's resurrection to discover the bedrock of Christian belief in bodily resurrection. We also consider how we may begin living resurrected lives even now, as sons and daughters of the resurrection. At this time of great disharmony, fear, crisis, and suffering in our world, one thing remains certain: The love of God is everlasting. PLEASE SHARE these "Life, Love, & Light" podcasts. They are available on YouTube, Apple, Spotify, Pandora, Amazon, and all the major directories as well as on https://lifelovelight.buzzsprout.com/. Podcaster VERONICA MARY ROLF is a medieval scholar, retreat leader, and master teacher of dramatic arts. She is the author of "Living Resurrected Lives: What it Means and Why it Matters" (Cascade Books, 2020), co-authored with Eva Natanya, PhD, which won a 2021 Catholic Media Association Book Award for Spirituality, and "Suddenly There is God: The Story of Our Lives in Sacred Scripture" (Cascade Books, 2019), which won a 2020 Catholic Media Association Book Award for Scripture. She is also the author of "An Explorer's Guide to Julian of Norwich" (IVP Academic, 2018) and "Julian's Gospel: Illuminating the Life and Revelations of Julian of Norwich" (Orbis Books, 2013), which have won numerous awards, including a First Place Catholic Media Association Book Award and the Nautilus Gold Medal for Spirituality. Veronica blogs on two websites: www.VeronicaMaryRolf.com and www.JuliansVoice.com.
"Life, Love, & Light" with Veronica Mary Rolf
Augustine & Aquinas on Identity
This week's podcast of "Life, Love, & Light" examines the writings of Augustine and Aquinas on the nature of the resurrected body. The Augustinian doctrine of resurrection focused on the necessity of divine reconstruction by God of every aspect of the body parts, rather than the Pauline metaphor of the seed in the ground that centered on a radical transformation. Inevitably, because of the wide dissemination of Augustine’s writings, his staunchly physical interpretation of Paul’s “spiritual body” became the standard Western view of eschatology.
As we discused in the previous podcast, generations of early apologists had linked personal identity with the “material bits” of the body. All these "bits" would have to be gathered up by God and reconstructed into the resurrected body, otherwise it would not be the same person who had died. Ancient theologians were convinced that if all the matter of an individual corpse were not resurrected intact, the identity of the person would be irrevocably lost. But they could not explain how the unique person could survive when the body was corrupted by death and decay.
Aquinas broke with the ancient tradition. He employed Aristotle’s metaphysical view that every being is a composite of two principles—primary matter and substantial form. Even though Aquinas still held that God would reassemble all the particles of the corpse in resurrection, he did not ascribe personal identity to the physical matter of the body. Rather, Aquinas (like Origen before him ) located identity in the substantial form of the body: that is, in the rational soul. It was the soul that made a being to be what it is. This approach by so distinguished a scholastic theologian as Aquinas, was an important breakthrough.
We consider the qualities of the glorified body, according to Aquinas, and question why it is we cannot imagine either a resurrected body or a resurrected mind.
NOTE: This series of podcasts is based on themes from my award-winning book, "Living Resurrected Lives: What it Means and Why it Matters," co-authored by my daughter, Eva Natanya, PhD (Cascade Books, 2020).
PLEASE SHARE these podcasts with your family and friends who may have serious questions about bodily resurrection. Blessings to all!