A reader writes in asking questions about what is often referred to the divisions of the church into the "Church Militant, Church Expectant, and Church Triumphant."
First, I should point out that these defintions are from medieval Roman Catholic theology, so while they might work for Anglicans in some ways, they don't fit us exactly. In this scheme, those in the church on earth are referred to as the "Church Militant." (Although since the idea of holy war has fallen out of disfavor in Christianity, we might want to rethink whether that is an appropriate term.) Those who have died but are in an intermediate state, which Roman Catholics term Purgatory, are the "Church Expectant." Those who are in paradise wtih God already (which would be the saints in Roman Catholic terms) are the "Church Triumphant." This division of the church is usually used in teaching to point out that our community as Christians is larger than just those of us on earth today.
Of course, as Anglicans we run into problems immediately with this division because we don't traditionally hold to the doctrine of purgatory. (For a longer discussion of this, see "To Purge or not to Purge") In addition, Anglicans are not unified in their ideas about what happens to the soul after death or even if such a thing as an independent, eternal soul exists. One of the best explorations of this subject is the book For all the saints? by N.T. Wright, the Bishop of Durham. After examining the tradition and the Bilblical witness, he concludes:
"I have tried to articulate what I take to be the solid, substantial and central New Testament hope, based on the death and resurrection of Jesus and the gift of his Spirit: that all God's people in Christ are assured of being with Christ himself, in a glorious restful existence, until the day when everything is renewed, when heaven and earth at last become one, and we are given new bodies to live and love and celebrate and rule in God's new creation." - For all the Saints? p. 71
In the end, that is probably all we can say with surety from scripture, although we are always free to conjecture.
David+
It is also available as a Google eBook here.
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