The Last Judgment: Temporal or Mythological

In thinking about the Last Judgment, it is probably useful to discuss the nature of time and mythological events. Specifically, I would like to determine whether the Last Judgment is a temporal or a mythological event.

First, let us distinguish between events on the earthly and eternal planes. Earthly events take place in a discrete sequence, beginning, in the Christian conception, with the creation of the world. They involve the movement of physical objects. What they end with is what is up for discussion here. We can also refer to earthly events as temporal events since they take place in time. Mythological events are ‘events’ (I use quotation marks because it is unclear whether or not we should even use that term here) which take place on the eternal plane. They are eternally occuring (recurring?) and express themselves in particular ways on earth. They, of course, do not involve physicality and are purely metaphysical. We also can’t say they happened ‘before’ (or after) anything else, because it is unclear what this would even mean on an eternal plane. Mircea Eliade, in his Sacred and Profane, describes the difference this way: “sacred time makes possible the other time, ordinary time, the profane duration in which every human life takes its course. It is the eternal present of the mythical event that makes possible the profane duration of historical events” (Sacred and Profane, p.89). 

Perhaps it is useful to explain the difference between the two by way of example. The Fall of Satan and his Angels is an example of a mythological event. It is metaphysical and took place outside of time. As Eliade writes, “The myth, then, is the history of what took place in illo tempore, the recital of what the gods or the semidivine beings did at the beginning of time... To tell a myth is to proclaim what happened ab origine. Once told, that is, revealed, the myth becomes apodictic truth; it establishes a truth that is absolute” (Sacred and Profane, 95). No physical bodies or objects were involved. The Crucifixion of Christ, on the other hand, was a temporal event. It involved physical bodies and took place at a specific moment in time. This distinction, kept fairly clean and easy so far, gets a bit more complicated. The Harrowing of Hell, for instance, is a tricky border case. On the one hand, it took place in the eternal plane. On the other hand, it seems to involve the physical bodies of dead individuals. Furthermore, while we can’t talk about ‘before’ with regards to eternity, we can when it comes to the individuals taken out of Hell in the Harrowing, since they had entered Hell at a distinct moment - they had not been there forever.

The Last Judgment, likewise, is a border case, which straddles the line between temporal and mythological event. It involves physical bodies (as we will see) but it of course also involves separating people into two groups, destined for two different eternal planes.

Let us investigate Scripture to see what it can tell us about this issue. In Revelation, we find this description: “And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.” (Revelation 20:11). This description suggests a destruction of the temporal world prior to the judgment itself. Furthermore, the fact that this scene was seen in advance suggests that it is eternally occurring. However, Matthew describes the Last Judgment as a future event, writing, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats” (Matthew 25:31-32). Here, we see, in the temporal language, evidence that the Last Judgment is a temporal event.

Without a clearly delineated answer in the Bible, let’s consider Hugh of St. Victor’s view on the matter. He writes that humans will be resurrected in actual, physical form for the Last Judgment, explaining in detail how this will work (we will be resurrected as we would have been at our best at 30 years of age). Hugh goes further, though, suggesting that the Last Judgment is a temporal event (since, according to him, it will last “three years and six months” (On The Sacraments, 452)) but will not be the last one, since the world will apparently be engulfed and destroyed by fire (according to Hugh, this will be like the Flood, but with fire instead of water), finishing the temporal realm. 

With the evidence leaning in favor of the Last Judgment being a temporal event, I would like to contribute my own reasoning to the debate. I find it highly likely that the Last Judgment is temporal and not mythological for the following reason: were the Last Judgment an eternal event, I think that would suggest pre-ordination and predetermination. Judgment must succeed freely made choices in a temporal sense or else free will would have no impact on one’s ultimate outcome. 

All things considered, I think we have established that the Last Judgment will be a temporal event. To add a final bit of complexity, though, I think the Last Judgment belongs in a special category of event, alongside the creation of the world and perhaps the Harrowing of Hell: a temporal event which is directly linked to the eternal plane.

-LJM