Seeing God: The Beatific Vision in Christian Tradition

by Hans Boersma

Winner of the Christianity Today Book Award in Theology/Ethics (2019)

To see God is our heart’s desire, our final purpose in life. But what does it mean to see God? And exactly how do we see God—with our physical eyes or with the mind’s eye? In this informed study of the beatific vision, Hans Boersma focuses on “vision” as a living metaphor and shows how the vision of God is not just a future but a present reality. 

Seeing God is both a historical theology and a dogmatic articulation of the beatific vision—of how the invisible God becomes visible to us. In examining what Christian thinkers throughout history have written about the beatific vision, Boersma explores how God trains us to see his character by transforming our eyes and minds, highlighting continuity from this world to the next. Christ-centered, sacramental, and ecumenical, Boersma’s work presents life as a never-ending journey toward seeing the face of God in Christ both here and in the world to come.

Genres: Theology, Christian, History, Church History, Christianity, Philosophy, Faith

488 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 24, 2018

About the author

I serve in the Saint Benedict Servants of Christ Chair in Ascetical Theology at Nashotah House in Wisconsin—a community of formation marked by the fullness of Anglican faith and practice, Benedictine spirituality, and classical Christian thought and teaching. (If you’re interested in studying at Nashotah House, contact me: hboersma@nashotah.edu). I am a Priest in the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA).

Before coming to Nashotah House in 2019, I taught for fourteen years at Regent College in Vancouver, BC and for six years at Trinity Western University in Langley, BC. I also served several years as a pastor in a Reformed church. I grew up in the Netherlands and have been in Canada since 1983.

My interests range across a variety of areas: patristic theology, twentieth-century Catholic thought, and spiritual interpretation of Scripture. In each of these areas, I am driven by a desire to retrieve the ‘sacramental ontology’ of the pre-modern tradition. So, much of my work looks to the past in hopes of recovering a sacramental mindset. I suppose this makes me a ressourcement (retrieval) theologian of sorts. Retrieval of the Great Tradition’s sacramental ontology has been at the heart of almost all my publications over the past twenty years or so.

Reviews

[Samuel G. Parkison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely superb. A historical jaunt that justifies a work like Michael Allen’s “Grounded in Heaven.” It seems like Boersma offers some minority interpretations regarding some of the figures he interacts with (at least, that’s how he conceptualizes his own reading), but I’m not familiar enough with some of them to know whether or not he argues his case against the established positions convincingly. As a stand alone work, though, “Seeing God” is thoroughly convincing. He argues that the telos of the Christian life is God—specifically, seeing God in Christ, forever and ever, with ever-increasing appreciation while never ultimately comprehensive. Though remarkably true, even still. Heaven is not ultimately about what we are doing or how we are doing it—it is ultimately about God, and the sum and substance of our enjoyment in heaven is beholding him.

Side bar: I’m still waiting to be scared off by Boersma. The Eastern Fathers’ influence on him shines through clearly in his leaning towards theosis, which is a problem, but his own articulation of his “sacramental ontology” doesn’t justify the panic I’ve seen among some Protestants. It sounds much like many Reformed articulations of “general revelation” and providence at its best: the relation between the Creator and the creature is not a symmetrical relation between distinct autonomous entities. God is everywhere always sustaining the cosmos and revealing and speaking of himself through and to everything therein. The difference between Boersma’s metaphysic and the one with which he’s contrasting seems to be the difference between a deistic metaphysic and a Christian theistic metaphysic.

[Matt Pitts · Rating 4 out of 5]

A massively learned historical study of the beatific vision with the emphasis on historical. Boersma covers many historical figures (from Gregory of Nyssa to Aquinas to Edwards to Bavinck and many others in between) and their articulation of the beatific vision but does not offer much of his own constructive articulation of what it means to see God.

The work was excellent though it seemed too long and a little repetitive by the end. Anyone wanting to think about the vision of God with the tradition will not want to miss this book, but you may not need to read all of it.

3.5 stars

[Scott Bielinski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seeing God is a tour de force of historical theology, tied together with a strong dogmatic assessment that articulates a positive vision of the beatific vision for theology and the Christian life. In short: it's central and must not be overlooked (pun intended, of course).

Boersma offers clear and careful readings of every theologian he treats (except for Bavinck, see below) and surveys a legitimately impressive swath of theologians. The usual suspects (Nyssen, Augustine, and Aquinas) are accompanied by Dante (!!!!), Donne (!!!), and Isaac Ambrose, alongside several others. There are also a few chapters on how the Reformed (Calvin, Owen, Kuyper, etc.) have received and appropriated the beatific vision, successfully arguing that this is not a doctrine for Roman Catholics only. His chapter on Edwards helped me work through some of my own philosophical hang-ups/misunderstandings of Edwards. He shows how Edwards modifies Aquinas’ doctrine of the beatific vision, adding how God’s infinite glory is always seen/will always be seen by finite creatures in the glorious person of Jesus Christ. Edwards also represents a recovery of the epektasis, something rejected by the high Medievals: “the finite vessel of the human soul would expand infinitely through its ever-transforming vision of God, which would amplify the soul’s ability to see him” (382). A feature of Edwards’ doctrine of the beatific vision is that it goes past Aquinas’ intellectualism, as Boersma notes the “sheer weight that Edwards gives to the affective aspect of the beatific vision” (366). Per Boersma, this is an especially important contribution/recovery of the Reformed theologians with respect to the vision.

Of course, this book has a few flaws. As this is a historical work, there is a relatively small amount of exegesis. Though the nature of this book makes this understandable, the ending chapter on dogmatics and the vision is similarly light on exegesis. If we are to recover the beatific vision, our work must be linked to Scripture. Fortunately, Boersma points us to theologians who have interacted extensively with Scripture. Another issue is Boersma’s tendency to fail to amply distinguish Neoplatonism and Christianity. We see this in Boersma’s criticism of Bavinck, chastising him because his theology is “out of sync with the sacramental metaphysic” of Christianity (28), which he refers to as “Christian Platonism” and “Neoplatonism." These certainly aren't the same thing! Relatedly, his reading of Bavinck is seriously lacking with respect to his doctrine of the beatific vision. Interested readers should read Dr. Nathaniel Gray Sutanto’s article, “Herman Bavinck on the Beatific Vision,” in IJST (Aug 2022), which shows that Boersma and Bavinck aren’t too far apart. Though Bavinck’s beatific vision is more metaphysically modest than Boersma’s, it demonstrates many of the central movements in Boersma’s own thought (emphasis on mystery, Christocentrism, resurrected body/physical sight, and firm maintaining of the Creator/Creature distinction). Boersma misses the centrality of covenant theology and its entailments in Bavinck’s thought (something he also misses in his reading of Owen), causing him to misread the ethical, mystical, and Christological components of Bavinck on this point.

Criticism aside, Boersma’s book is worth every penny. Boersma’s work is almost unparalleled in depth and breadth. If you’re at all interested, buy it. You will not regret it.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was Grounded in Heaven by Michael Allen, that made we think we had overcompensated in our understanding of eschatology and the beatific vision as a new creation. It seems that prior to the emergence of Neo-Calvinism, reformed and evangelical thought had an imbalance in its grasp of the beatific vision, heaven and glory, sometimes under-realising the radical change that the final resurrection would make to our vision of the future in a new haven as and earth. There was a confused use of the term “heaven” in terms of the resurrection future that implied a bodiless existence or a kind of existence that did not require a body! Kuyper and Bavinck and the Neo-Calvinist school after them, rightly wanted to clarify the future as a restoration of creation, indeed this creation. But then it seemed that this much needed re-calibration of eschatology, had itself tipped too far in the other direction. Time was spent discussing the details of what we might or might not enjoy in the new creation, my favourite foods, drink, music and cultural projects. These were all well and good, by them seemed now to occupy the front row. Thus one heard less and less of the themes connected with the beatific vision: the beholding of Christ, the radical changes that deification (dare we even use the term?) and glorification might bring to our bodies and our sensory experience, and what might it mean, after all to be taken up closer into the life of the Trinity? Allen had noted that as we had become more prosperous in the modern world, and so more attached to the good things of this life, we had started to fashion in the future in the image of the present.
With this we turn to this sizeable volume form Hans Boersma, which is a kind of follow-up and expansion of themes first broached in his earlier book heavenly participation. Boersma’s account of the beatific vision is a rich, detailed and careful account of the development of the doctrine, form scripture, Gregory of Nyssa, Plato and Plotinus, and Thomas Aquinas and Gregory of Palamas, Bonaventure and Nicholas of Cusa, Dante and then Calvin, John Donne and the Puritans, notably John Owen, Richard Baxter and finally to Jonathan Edwards. En route Boersma takes in the views of moderns like Hans Urs von Balthasar, Abraham Kuyper and Herman Bavinck and Henri de Lubac. There is a lot in these 400 pages, and the scope and discussion is impressive.
Boersma is of course developing his own theology of participation and the sacramental strain. The benefit of this approach is that he consciously aim to link the life of the present to that of the future sacramentally. This avoids the charge of escapism or other-worldliness disconnected from the life o the present.
There are two or three key concern that Boersma wants to bring to the fore:

1. That the beatific vision is not distant future hope that has no traction in the present. Quite the opposite. The future is sacramentally present with us, so that we live with the end in view and in sync with the future.

2. Boersma is at pains to stress, along with Calvin, Owen and Edwards, that the glorified Christ is the focus of the beatific vision, rather than a direct "view" of the essence of God. Calvin had his an interpretation of 1 Cor. 15 that suggested that the mediatorial office of Christ (not the hypostatical union!) would be consummated in Christ handing his kingdom over the Father, opening into a more direct vision of God.

[Flynn Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

A masterful survey of relevant theological literature as it relates to the church’s understanding of the eschatologically-realized beholding of God by believers in eternity. I found Boersma’s retrieval of the Christological approach to the beatific vision especially compelling, since it appeals most to a distinctly Protestant religious epistemology.

[Wyatt Graham · Rating 5 out of 5]

In short, it’s good. See my review here: http://wyattgraham.com/review-of-seei...

[Daniel Hoffman · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8)

Christian theology has traditionally held that “seeing God” is in some sense the end goal and purpose of human life. But the vision of God (the “beatific vision”) has receded into the background of the consciousness of even most Christians. Boersma suggests several reasons for this. One is how the contemporary world tends to think of “purpose” as a category. He says, “To the extent that we still think of ends or purposes, we tend to conceive of them either as freely chosen (in the case of human beings) or as extraneously imposed upon objects (in the case of animals, plants, and other objects). That is to say, to the extent that we still think of purposes or aims, we treat them as extrinsic to the nature of things.” In contrast, the pre-modern mindset tended to see the purpose of things as actually inhering within them: “[T]he finality of an object or a human being lay in some manner “embedded” within it, and as such, you could say that the telos “pulled” or “drew” the thing or the person.”

Another reason even within the Christian world is that modern theology has tended to emphasize the physical and this-worldly nature of biblical eschatology. That emphasis is a good and necessary recovery of the true biblical picture, but it can sit uneasily with such a transcendent and in some ways more abstract goal of “seeing God.”

Boersma, though, wants to put the beatific vision back into the center of Christian theology, and most of this book is actually a study of the history of Christian thought on the topic. The central chapters deal with various theologians, ancient, medieval, modern, both Eastern and Western, and how they have understood the beatific vision. One point that Boersma takes to be fundamental, though different theologians may have been more or less explicit about it, is that “seeing God” will always ultimately be inseparable from seeing God in Christ. Christ remains the mediator, and to see Christ is to see God, and that will remain the case no matter how our faculty of “vision” (in either or both the physical and mental sense) is transformed after the resurrection.

[Dan Lawler · Rating 3 out of 5]

What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?

“Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” 1 John 3:2

“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.” 1 Corinthians 13:12

In attempting to explain what “seeing God” means and why it is important, Hans Boersma states at the outset that what the Bible has to say on the subject is only incidental and that he will be focusing instead on “tradition” by which he means the various attempts throughout the ages to synthesize Christian theology and ancient Greek philosophy. Boersma’s philosophy of choice is Neoplatonism. But once this synthesis is begun, Christianity starts to resemble just another “footnote to Plato,” as A.N. Whitehead said of the European philosophical tradition.

Boersma’s own Christianity is often indistinguishable from panentheism of which he claims the renowned Reformed theologian and philosopher Jonathan Edwards was also an adherent: “Oliver D. Crisp persuasively argues that Edwards’s Neoplatonism implies that he was a panentheist since ‘what he says amounts to something like the claim that the being of God includes and penetrates the whole universe, so that every part exists “in” him in some sense, although his being is not exhausted by the creation.’” (Page 384.) That final phrase is what distinguishes panentheism from pantheism which holds the universe to be God.

Why do we need Neoplatonism when the Bible already makes it abundantly clear in the verses quoted above and elsewhere that there will be a glorious vision of God in Christ in the world to come? Because, according to Boersma, the authority of Scripture alone is not sufficient to make the idea of beatific vision plausible. We need the authority of Plato and Plotinus for it to be credible, coherent and acceptable to thinking people. Unless the being of God “penetrates the whole universe” in the way the panentheists and Boersma believe, we have no good reason to conclude that there will even be a beatific vision and Scriptures’ promise of a transforming sight of God in Christ “hardly seems like a promise at all.” (p. 17.)

We learn from the Neoplatonists that their god, which they call The One or The Good, imparted to man a desire, or telos, to look upon The One, and that telos draws man to his ultimate end of an eternal gazing upon and transfiguration into The One. Boersma correlates The One with the God of the Bible and refers to this infusion of divine purpose as “sarcramental ontology” whereby the outward and visible earthly man becomes not only a sign of the invisible heavenly God but a vessel of the divine being; man bears within himself the “real presence” of God. Boersma states on his website: “Unlike mere symbols, sacraments actually participate in the mysterious reality to which they point. When it comes to sacraments, sign and reality co-inhere; the sacrament participates in the reality to which it points. A sacramental relationship implies that the reality to which the sign points is ‘really present’ in the sign.”

Boersma’s underlying assumption is that “the telos of the beatific vision lies embedded in our human nature.” (p. 11.) He acknowledges though that “sometimes we surreptitiously make other things our ends, and by doing so we act against our nature.” Of course, this doesn’t just “sometimes” happens, human experience shows it's the rule of thumb. Boersma does not offer much of an explanation for this other than to parenthetically note that “our desires are not always in sync with our nature.” (Id.) But if godliness does not come naturally to us, then it is not within our nature to be godly; and that is what the Scriptures teach. When man is left to his own devices, “no one seeks for God” and “no one does good, not even one.” Romans 3:12.

The desire for God, according to Scripture, requires a new birth and a triune God that are unknown to panentheism. People become children of God through faith in the Son (Gal. 3:26) and because they believe, God has sent the Spirit of adoption into their hearts crying “Abba, Father.” (Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6.) Desire for the Father is the promised gift of the Holy Spirit to the adopted children who believe in the Son. As against panentheism, the Scriptures alone provide a more logically coherent explanation that is also consistent with the facts of experience as to why some desire to see God while many do not.

Panentheism aside, Boersma does provide a worthwhile survey of the Puritans and the heir to their heritage, Jonathan Edwards, in connection with the beatific vision. He considers them to be exemplars of those who both sought the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ and, to some degree, directly experienced that glory in this life and were transformed by it. Their accounts are well worth reading to all who would seek the same. See, e.g., Edwards' Religious Affections and sermon, The Divine and Supernatural Light (available free on the internet), and Owen's works The Glory of Christ and Pneumatologia.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though I disagree here and there, another gem from Boersma.

[Kyle Rapinchuk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Boersma provides a beautiful treatment of the beatific vision in his book, Seeing God. Boersma's historical survey of the doctrine is deep, insightful, and integrated. One of the more helpful qualities of this book is its wide scope (although this makes for quite a long read!), covering early church theologians, Reformation pastors, Puritans, Dante, and even poet John Donne! His ability to compare and contrast various aspects of the beatific vision with previous discussions (what I mean by integrated above) is immensely helpful. Throughout he shows where theologians stand with or diverge from the majority tradition, and he critiques these moves thoughtfully and fairly. While clearly disagreeing with Aquinas' ultimate analysis of the beatific vision, Boersma nonetheless gives him a thorough and fair treatment, and he lauds many aspects of Aquinas' contribution to the doctrine. Boersma does likewise for each theologian, and he completes the work with an excellent summary of his conclusions while linking the various ideas/facets of the beatific vision with its historical treatment by others. In short, Boersma concludes that the beatific vision, which is our telos in the future but possible in part in the present, is rooted in seeing God in the incarnate and risen Christ, noting an eternal progression (epektasis) into participation in the divine (theosis/divinization) while maintaining a proper Creator/creature distinction. I highly recommend this book, especially for Protestants who think the beatific vision is merely a Catholic doctrine.

[Gavin Brand · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one the most interesting and nourishing theological things I have read. Full of charity for different theological traditions, Boersma fostered in me a deeper longing for ecumenical understanding and cooperation while at the same time developing in me an increased longing to see God in Christ. The added bonuses of being exposed to a host of theologians I have never read and the relevance of the topic for personal transformation made it all the better.

Boersma suggests a view of the Beatific Vision through apprenticeship. His pedagogical approach highlights four elements:

1. The vision of God "is predicated on God's continuous providential care..." - "Our vision of God is based on his vision of us."

2. The vision of God "implies a process with an end." - It is fruitful to look at both the history of salvation... and one's personal pilgrimage... as God training us for the beatific vision int he hereafter."

3. The vision of God centers on Christ. - "Theologians such as Gregory of Nyssa, Symeon the New Theologian, Gregory Palamas, Bonaventure, Nicholas of Cusa, a variety of Puritan theologians, as well as Jonathan Edwards - treated the beatific vision in a thoroughly christological fashion."

4. The vision of God is transformative - "By habituating his people throughout history to an ever-greater vision of himself in Christ... God changes us."

These four are just the footnotes to the footnotes. The whole book is worth the investment.

[E. · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Indeed, whenever and wherever we see truth, goodness, and beauty, it is as though the eschaton comes cascading into our lives and we receive a glimpse of God's beauty in Christ."

That's a fine sentence. I can imagine it will appear in a sermon sometime.

This book is a thorough (sometimes too thorough I think) review of the theology of the beatific vision, focused on a handful of key figures in Christian history. The most interesting, to me, chapters were on Protestant versions, as one doesn't usually think of this as a prominent Protestant doctrine. Chapters on Calvin, the Puritans, and Edwards showed that Protestant theology has neglected an important idea.

By the end Boersma seems to be supporting an idealistic metaphysics that I find odd. But the book was substantive and informative.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent historical theology on the doctrine of the beatific vision. Wide in scope, the author covers a vast range of some of the greatest theologians throughout history: Church Fathers to Roman Catholic to Eastern Orthodox to Protestant. The overlap in concerns is as surprising as the diversity of conceptual differences and emphases. At the very least, this book has impressed upon me the need to include and highlight the beatific vision (or something equivalent) within eschatology today. Highly recommend.

[Kenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommended. Seeing and knowing are often synonymous in the NT—"remembering you in my prayers...having the eyes of your heart enlightened, that you may know..." (Ephesians 1:17ff) Boersma provides a rich historical, theological and Christo-centric survey of the Beatific vision in Christian thought in both the Eastern and Western traditions. A pleasant surprise for me was the similarities of thought on this subject between Gregory of Nyssen and Jonathan Edwards.

[Liam Marsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent summary of the beatific vision throughout Church History, but especially how it works within the Reform tradition. Hans Boersma offers in many ways a practical eschatology that my also help readers of the Bible to be tuned to how the Patristic Fathers (especially) understood the Old Testament. For those looking to understand in depth more of the beatific vision, Boersma's book is an excellent start.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read, and interesting dialogue with the other two books I happened to be reading at the time: The Republic by Plato (Christian Platonism features prominently early on) and 40 Questions about Islam by Matthew Bennett (Islamic theology has a very different take on the creator/creature relationship, God reveals His will instead of Himself, and all the Christian talk of God’s condescension is absent).

[Micah Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unmatched in its breadth. A great resource, although the varying articulations of the beatific vision have somewhat muddled my own views. I guess I'll have to wait for Sam Parkison's book to clear things up.

[Maya Joelle]

I looked at this and yeah, I want to read it. I want to read all the primary sources it references too, but I probably don't have the time for that in this life, at least not while I still enjoy poetry and fantasy in addition to theology.

[Ron Kastner · Rating 4 out of 5]

The erudition of the author is staggering; the interconnections he sees and weaves together over nearly two millennia of Christian thought are amazing. This is not the easiest read but i would recommend that anyone interested in the goal of human life will find it enlightening.

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Golden

[Eun-hyeon Myeong · Rating 4 out of 5]

A historical survey of the doctrine of the beatific vision. Christ-centered and devotional.

[Ryan Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great historical survey, I would have liked more constructive work at the end though.

[John Fortune · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughgoing, imaginative, and enlightening.