Immortality in the Aristotelian Christian Tradition

In Christian Aristotelianism and Thomism, immortality is not endless continuity in time after death but assimilation and participation in God’s eternity. Life of the Saved does not undergo changes per se since there is no passage of time in eternity. For Aquinas, the subjects of immortality are, on the one hand, the resurrected human beings and, on the other, the subsistent souls, which should not be confused with substances proper. Personal identity and thus the resurrected body's identity form substantial individuals. In Aristotelian hylomorphism presupposed by the two theses, the materia is not mattered in the modern sense, but rather potentiality.

Keywords:

immortality , eternity , Aristotelian , Christian tradition