As Catholics, we believe in the resurrection of the body. We profess it in our creed. We’re taught that to bury and pray for the dead are corporal and spiritual works of mercy. We honor the dead in our Liturgy through the Rite of Christian burial. We do all of this, and more, because when Jesus Christ took on flesh for the salvation of our souls he also bestowed great dignity on our bodies.
In Hope to Die: The Christian Meaning of Death and the Resurrection of the Body, Scott Hahn explores the significance of death and burial from a Catholic perspective. The promise of the bodily resurrection brings into focus the need for the dignified care of our bodies at the hour of death. Unpacking both Scripture and Catholic teaching, Hope to Die reminds us that we are destined for glorification on the last day.
Our bodies have been made by a God who loves us. Even in death, those bodies point to the mystery of our salvation.
Study Questions
About the Authors
Scott Hahn is the Fr. Michael Scanlan Professor of Biblical Theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville, where he has taught since 1990. Founder and President of the St. Paul Center, Dr. Hahn has been married to Kimberly since 1979; they have six children and twenty-four grandchildren. He is the author or editor of over fifty popular and academic books, including best-selling titles Rome Sweet Home, The Lamb's Supper, and the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible.
Emily Stimpson Chapman is an award-winning Catholic author of over a dozen books, including The Catholic Table: Finding Joy Where Food and Faith Meet; These Beautiful Bones: An Everyday Theology of the Body; The Story of All Stories children’s story Bible; and a series of children’s books co-authored with Scott Hahn. Chapman lives in Steubenville, Ohio with her husband, Chris, and their three children.
The Catechism states that, for a Christian, the day of death is the end of the sacramental life and the fulfillment of our new birth at Baptism.
With this in mind: Where is your hope?
"When we know death is not the end, when we know that death is just the beginning of everlasting joy, everlasting life, and everlasting communion with the One we love, hope drives out fear. It makes us long for death."
-Scott Hahn
