Small Group Discussion Questions
Questions on Bishop Barron’s “The World to Come”
Theological & Informational Questions
- What distinction does Bishop Barron, following N.T. Wright, make between the Greek philosophical concept of the Immortality of the Soul and the Christian doctrine of the Resurrection of the Dead?
- How does Barron use the Incarnation (Christ taking on human flesh) and the phrase “Light from Light” to argue against Gnostic dualism and affirm the ultimate dignity and destiny of the physical universe?
- Explain Barron’s distinction between the soma psychikon (natural body) and the soma pneumatikon (spiritual body) in the World to Come, using the analogy of a body’s “fuel” or animating force.
- Barron argues that the “World to Come” provides a necessary solution to the Problem of Evil. How does the ultimate reality of Divine Justice and Final Judgment address this problem?
- What is the Beatific Vision (visio beatifica), and how does Barron use the philosophical concept of the human mind’s “unrestricted desire to know” to prove the necessity of this ultimate encounter with God?
Personal & Christocentric Questions
These questions aim to move the participant from abstract concept to personal devotion, centering on Christ.
- Barron states that the Risen Son is the prototype and guarantee of the “World to Come.” How does focusing on the physical, wounded, yet transfigured body of Jesus (Luke 24:39) change your current view of your own body, work, and suffering?
- The standard of Final Judgment is a Person: Jesus Christ, who displays his wounds as badges of sacrificial love. How does the image of the Judge being the Crucified change the way you understand and approach the call to love the “least of these” (Matthew 25)?
- Barron defines the Liturgy (the Mass) as the “time travel” into the “eternal now” of the World to Come, with the Eucharist as the “medicine of immortality.” In what specific way can you change your focus during Mass to truly enter this “New Universe” rather than just attending a service?
- The theological virtue of Hope rests entirely on the Resurrection—God’s power to call life out of death. What is one specific area of life (a past regret, a current struggle, or a fear of the future) where you are currently relying on “thin” secular optimism, and how can you deliberately pivot to “thick” hope by placing that area under the sign of Christ’s triumph over death?
Barron describes Hell as a definitive self-exclusion from love, where the same fire of God’s love is experienced as torment by the soul that has turned incurvatus in se (turned in on itself). What is one small, concrete action you can take today to turn your focus outward toward others (away from incurvatus in se) and align yourself with the self-giving, Trinitarian logic of the gift?
When Time Allows Reflect on the Posts in Library and Musings
Sharing
Jesus last words on Earth were to his disciples, can be found in Matthew Chap 28 when Jesus told his disciples, “Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”
Jesus calls all of us to share in his redemptive mission here on Earth. I would ask you to share this Scripture reflection with your family, your friends and your acquaintances, and then share it with a couple of individuals that you may may not be comfortable sharing with, keeping in mind always the words of Jesus, And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age
Author was assisted by AI in the drafting of this Post