Fate of the unlearned
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The term Fate of the Unlearned describes an eschatological question about the ultimate destiny of people who have not been exposed to a particular theology or doctrine and thus have no opportunity to embrace it. It is sometimes combined with the similar question of the Fate of the Unbeliever. Differing faith traditions have different responses to the question.
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[edit] Jewish tradition
Within Judaism is the tradition of the Noahide Covenant, which proposes that non-Jews can have a direct and meaningful relationship with God or at least comply with the minimal requisites of civilization and of divine law.
[edit] Catholic tradition
The Catholic Church believes that Christ attained salvation "for all men" by his death on the cross.[1] It teaches that salvation comes from "God alone," but that the Church is the "mother" and "teacher" of the faithful.[2] Specifically, it teaches that Christian baptism is generally necessary for salvation.[3] However, Catholic teaching also allows for the salvation of one with genuine ignorance of Christian teaching, who "seeks the truth and does the will of God in accordance with his understanding of it."[4] Unbaptized catechumens are saved, in the Catholic view, because the desire to receive the sacrament of baptism, together with sincere repentance for one's sins, assures salvation.[5] In the case of the righteous unlearned, "It may be supposed that such persons would have desired Baptism explicitly if they had known its necessity" and, by extension, they will attain salvation.[6]
[edit] Protestant tradition
The reformer John Calvin, writing his Institutes of the Christian Religion at the time of the Reformation, wrote "beyond the pale of the Church no forgiveness of sins, no salvation, can be hoped for" [IV.i.iv]. Calvin wrote also that "those to whom he is a Father, the Church must also be a mother," echoing the words of the originator of the Latin phrase himself, Cyprian: "He can no longer have God for his Father who has not the Church for his mother."
The idea is further affirmed in the Puritan Anglican Westminster Confession of Faith o 1647 that "the visible Church . . . is the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, the house and family of God, out of which there is no ordinary possibility of salvation." Despite this, it is not necessarily a commonly held belief within modern Protestantism, especially Evangelicalism and those denominations which believe in the autonomy of the local church. The dogma is related to the universal Protestant dogma that the church is the body of all believers and debates within Protestantism usually centre on the meaning of "church" (ecclesiam) and "apart" (extra).
[edit] Latter-day Saint tradition
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that those who die without knowledge of LDS theology will be taught the gospel in the afterlife, and that they will be able, if they are willing, to accept baptism through an ordinance carried out vicariously by the living. This baptism for the dead is obliquely referenced in Paul's letter to the Corinthians.
"Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?" — 1 Corinthians 15:29
[edit] Islamic trandition
- See also: Itmam al-hujjah and Hanif
According to Qur'an, the basic criteria for salvation in afterlife is the belief in one God, Last Judgment, and good deeds.[7] As the Qur'an states:
| “ | Surely those who believe (Muslims) and those who are Jews and the Sabians and the Christians whoever believes in Allah (God) and the last day and does good-- they shall have no fear nor shall they grieve. | „ |
Qur'an also asserts that those who reject the Messengers of God with their best knowledge are damned in afterlife[7] and if they reject in front of the Messenger of God, then they also face dreadful fate in this world and in afterlife (see Itmam al-hujjah). Conversely, if a person discovers monotheism without having been reached by a messenger is called Hanif.
[edit] References
- ^ Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed., para. 1741
- ^ Ibid, para. 169.
- ^ Ibid, para. 1257 et seq.
- ^ Ibid, para. 1260.
- ^ Ibid, para. 1259
- ^ Ibid, para. 1260.
- ^ a b Moiz Amjad. Will Christians enter Paradise or go to Hell?. Renaissance - Monthly Islamic journal 11(6), June, 2001.
