The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 2

XVI. Ceylon’s Niles-Not “Natural Immortality” but “Resurrection”

Another angle is touched upon in faraway Ceylon, where Methodist superintendent DANIEL T. NILES denies that Christ’s resurrection was simply the persistence of His “natural immortality.” Niles speaks, in Living With the Gospel, appearing in the World Christian Books series, of some who “naively think of physical death as simply death of the body, and therefore think of the soul as automatically continuing to exist beyond death.” Because of this common misconception such are tempted “to understand the story of the resurrection [of Jesus] in terms of the natural immortality of Jesus.” ⁶⁹ But the resurrection of Christ was not, Niles holds, a “natural but a supernatural event.” Jesus came “back again among men.” Hear it: CFF2 931.4

“To us who so naively think of death as simply death of the physical body, and therefore think of the soul as automatically continuing to exist beyond death, the temptation is great to understand the story of the resurrection in terms of the natural immortality of Jesus. But what the Gospels assert is not simply that Jesus is alive, but that Jesus is here, back again among men.... CFF2 932.1

“There are some today who seek to restate the fact of the resurrection in terms that would fit in with our modern knowledge. They find that the story of the resurrection is told in words and ways of thinking which do not correspond to our normal ways of thinking. They forget that any attempt to restate the fact of the resurrection in this way must necessarily turn that fact into a natural event, that is, an event which could happen again and again in nature. But that is not at all what happened: only Jesus has risen; his resurrection is not something that has ever been repeated.” ⁷⁰ CFF2 932.2

And because He rose, we also shall be raised-if we are “in Christ.” CFF2 932.3

MAJOR 20TH CENTURY WITNESSES TO CONDITIONALISM—SECTION B

No.	Page	Name	Date	Place	Religion	Position	Nature of Man	Intermediate State	Punishment of Wicked
1	866	Shaw, John M.	1953	Canada	Anglican	Prof. (Queen’s)	Not immortal by nature	No disembodied exist.	Ult. extinction
2	870	Craig, C. T.	1953	America	Methodist	Dean (Drew)	No natural immort.	Immort. at res.
3	872	DeWolf, Harold L.	1953	America	Methodist	Prof. (Boston)			No everlast. torture
4	872	Wright, G. E.	1953	America	Presbyterian	Prof. (McCormick)	No separated soul	Immort. through res.	Annihilation
5	873	Schjelderup, K.	1953	Sweden	Lutheran	Bishop			No eternal torment
6	875	Kantonen, Taito A.	1954	America	Lutheran	Prof. (Hamma)	No innate immort.	Asleep in death	Ult. destruction
7	880	Roberts, Harold	1954	England	Methodist	Prof.—pres.	No natural immort.	Immort. through res.
8	881	Atkinson, B. F. C.	1954	Britain	Evangelical	Librarian (Cambridge)	Not made immortal	No discarnate life	Irrevoc. consumed
9	889	Owen, D. R. G.	1956	Canada	Anglican	Provost (Trinity)	No independent soul	Immort. through res.
10	894	Brunner, Emil	1954	Switzerland	Swiss Ref.	Prof. (Zurich)	Soul not immortal		Extinction of being
11	898	Hunter, Arch. M.	1954	Scotland	Presbyterian	Prof. (Aberdeen)	No innate immort.	Immort. through res.
12	899	Newbigin, Lesslie	1954	India	Ch. of Scotland	Bishop	Man a living whole	Immort. through res.
13	900	Robinson, Wm.	1954	America	Disciples	Prof. (Butler)	No immortal soul	No bodiless existence
14	901	Stauffer, Ethelbert	1955	Germany	Lutheran	Prof. (Erlangen)	No innate immort.	Sleep until res.
15	902	Spurrier, Wm. A.	1955	America	Wesleyan	Prof. (Wesleyan)	No Platonic immort.	No discarnate soul
16	903	Brown, Robt. M.	1955	America	Presbyterian	Prof. (Union)	No independent immort.	Total personality res.
17	905	Kraemer, Hendrik	1956	Switzerland		Director (Institute)	No “Greek” immort.	Restoration through res.	Soul destrctible
18	906	Newman, Murray	1956	America	Episcopalian	Prof. (Union)	No innate immort.	Immort. at resu.
19	908	Hooke, Sam. H.	1956	England		Prof. (London)	No innate immort.	No bodiless existence
20	908	Scroggie, W. G.	1957	Britain	Baptist	Keswick speaker	No innate immort.	Awaits call of Life-giver	No eternal torment
21	913	Cullmann, Oscar	1958	Switzerland		Prof. (Basel)	Soul not immortal	No rewards at death	Destroy with final.
22	917	Rowley, H. H.	1956	England	Baptist	Prof. (Manchester)	No immortal soul
23	918	Read, D. H. C.	1956	Scotland	Ch. of Scotland	Chaplain (Edinburgh)	No eternal something	Life beyond through res.
24	918	Tresmontant, C.	1957	France	Rom. Catholic		Incom. with Gr. Phil.	Salvation of whole man
25	921	Tremel, Y. B.	1957	France	Dominican		No natural immort.	Sleep, end. in awakening
26	922	Trueblood, D. E.	1957	America	Quaker	Prof. (Earlham)	No evidence of immort.	Immort. through res.	No eternal hell
27	924	Tillich, Paul	1957	America		Prof. (Harvard)	No natural immort.	Immort. from without
28	925	Hocking, Wm. E.	1957	America		Prof. (Harvard)	Immortable, not imm’tal	No bodiless living	No everlast. torture
29	926	Homrighausen, E.	1957	America	Presbyterian	Dean (Princeton)	No independ. persist.	Man a unit
30	926	Perry, Edmund	1957	America	Methodist	Prof. (Northwestern)	No imperishable soul	No disembodied exist.
31	927	Seventh-day Adv.	1957	World-Wide	SDA	Author, statement	Immort. is conditional	Sleep till res.	Utter extincion
32	929	Hamilton, William	1957	America	Baptist	Prof. (Colgate-R)	No independent immort.
33	929	Anderson, B. W.	1957	America	Methodist	Dean (Drew)	Man is mortal	No deathless survival
34	930	Irion, Paul E.	1957	America	Ev. and Ref.	Chaplain (Deaconess)	No inherent immort.	Immort. through res.
35	931	Bultmann, R.	1951	Germany	Lutheran	Prof. (Marburg)	No immortal soul	Man unified organism
36	931	Niles, Daniel T.	1957	Ceylon	Methodist	Superintendent	No natural immort.	No continuance of soul

COVERAGE ATTESTED BY CHART B-MIDDLE PORTION OF CENTURY

1. In the middle period of the twentieth century America has the largest segment of witnesses-embracing the deans of Princeton, Drew, and a Moravian College. There are professors at Harvard, Princeton, Colgate, McCormick, Hamma, Boston, Butler, Union, and San Francisco Theological. Also a chaplain.

2. In Canada the provost of Trinity and a professor at Queen’s speak. And there is an authorized group statement, expressive of three religious bodies in Canada.

3. In the far-flung range there is a Lutheran Bishop in Sweden. In Switzerland a professor at Zurich, Prof. Cullmann at Basel, Prof. Brunner at Zurich, the director of an Institute, and a team of three scholars in a group reference work. In India a bishop speaks out. In Germany professors at Erlangen and Marburg hold to Conditionalism; and in Ceylon a Methodist superintendent is on record.

4. In England there is a Methodist professor, a librarian-professor at Cambridge, professors at the universities of London and Manchester. Also a prominent Keswick speaker, author, and pastor.

5. In denominational spread they embrace Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Evangelical, Reformed, Swiss Reformed, Church of Scotland, Disciples, Baptist, Quaker, Evangelical Reformed, Moravian, Seventh-day Adventist, and even Roman Catholic. In the widening geographical spread Asia is now included-a Church of Scotland bishop in India and a Methodist superintendent in Ceylon.

6. On the nature of man practically all declare, in variant phrasing, that man has no natural, inherent, innate immortality; no separate, independent, imperishable soul that persists; that man is a living unit or organism. They repudiate Greek Platonism. They hold that there is no eternal something, no independent persistence of discarnate souls. Man is mortal, but immortable or immortizable.

7. On the intermediate state the vast majority declare there is no independent, disembodied existence, that in death man is in unconscious sleep until the resurrection, when the death sleep ends in awakening-the whole man, a unified organism, responding.

8. Concerning the punishment of the wicked, there is ultimate, utter extinction, final annihilation for the unrepentant wicked. They are to be utterly consumed, resulting in excision of being. There is therefore no everlasting torment, no eternally burning hell, no endless suffering, but final, total destruction.

9. It is to be noted that these tabulations are confined to religious and educational leaders of prominence. But hundreds of thousands of laymen of intelligence and attainment are likewise involved. Entire congregations and whole denominations that are world wide in operation must not be overlooked. The present adoption of Conditionalism around the globe by men in all walks of life and professions represents the abiding gains of the Condi-tionalist concept. These must be added to this galaxy of ministerial pathfinders we have listed in those tables.

10. The extent of witness provided by Seventh-day Adventists alone is worthy of note, for in 1963 they numbered 1.4 million adult baptized members, led by 21,562 ministerial workers, all of whom (clergy and laity) are full-fledged Conditionalists. They are a world organization, and now conduct their work in 928 languages and dialects-228 with literature and 700 orally. And this is spread over 189 of the world’s 223 countries. Their accessions total more than 114,000 annually-all converts becoming Conditionalists. And there are other denominations that are similarly one hundred per cent Con-ditionalist.