Introduction

This introductory chapter establishes the topic of the book, the purpose for which it’s written, and the current state of the literature within which the book sits. It also introduces some fundamental terminology germane to the book’s thesis, namely what the author calls “TAs”—Theological Affirmations. They are TA1: Bodily resurrection is not a superfluous hope of afterlife; TA2: Immediate post-mortem existence in Paradise; TA3: Numerical identity between pre-mortem and post-resurrection human beings. Additionally, the introduction outlines the chapters of the book and the reason they’re placed in the particular order they are. Importantly, it explains the various arguments with which the book does not engage, arguments that are normally seen as central to the topic of Christian theology/philosophy, human persons, and afterlife. Indeed, the author provides reasons for thinking that the normally “central” topics are, in fact, quite misplaced and stagnant. In particular, he explains why his arguments against substance dualism and The Intermediate State (a term defined herein) aren’t philosophical in nature; that arguing the metaphysics of substance dualism seems to have reached a loggerhead. Instead, the author argues that substance dualism and The Intermediate State are theologically untenable given Christian theology. This leads to Chapter 1.