Describing the Inconceivable in Eighteenth-Century Methodist and Quaker Visions of the Afterlife

Martha McGill; Luke Holloway

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Chapter 9 Describing the Inconceivable in Eighteenth-Century Methodist and Quaker Visions of the Afterlife

In: The Eschatological Imagination

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Martha McGill

Martha McGill
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Luke Holloway

Luke Holloway
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 248–275

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004688247_010

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Abstract

Although the Bible warns that the nature of the afterlife is beyond human conception, believers have persistently made attempts to envisage and describe otherworldly realms. This chapter explores accounts of journeys to heaven and hell that were written or collected by Quakers and Methodists in eighteenth-century England and America. Both denominations encouraged adherents to look inwards to detect the signs of grace, but visionaries devoted relatively little space to the emotional impact of their experiences. Their accounts are more revealing when it comes to the transfiguration of bodies in otherworldly realms: the chapter considers the separation of body and soul, the appearances of deceased family and friends, and the mystical qualities of celestial attire. Visionaries typically portrayed people in the afterlife as simultaneously familiar and unfamiliar. They employed similar strategies when describing environmental features such as buildings, gardens, and lakes. By discussing sublime landscapes in relation to their earthly counterparts, visionaries provided scaffolding for the imaginative labour of envisaging the afterlife. Although Quaker and Methodist theologians reiterated the scriptural cautions against speculation about the afterlife, the preservation and circulation of these visionary accounts indicates that wider spiritual communities viewed heaven and hell as valid objects of religious reflection.

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The Eschatological Imagination

Space, Time, and Experience (1300–1800)

Series: Intersections, Volume: 96

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004688247

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 15 Oct 2024

Subjects

Front Matter

Part 1 Cosmology and Eschatology

Part 2 Underlands and Netherworlds

Part 3 Visions of Heaven and Hell

Part 4 Spiritual Reckoning and Refuge

Part 5 Sites of Purgation, Meditation, and Martyrdom

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Chapter 9 Describing the Inconceivable in Eighteenth-Century Methodist and Quaker Visions of the Afterlife

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Citation Info

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The Eschatological Imagination

Space, Time, and Experience (1300–1800)

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