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The Shape of Death: Life, Death, and Immortality in the Early Fathers

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A short, concise, accessible and thought provoking work where Jaroslav Pelikan seeks to shed understanding on the nature of death and immortality. Creation, eschatology, the nature of the soul, the resurrection and the saving work of Christ naturally are reoccuring themes throughout the study.

The chapters break down as follows:

1. The Arc of Existence - Tatian

2. The Circle of Immortality - Clement of Alexandria

3. The Triangle of Mortality - Cyprian

4. The Parabola of Eternity - Origen

5. The Spiral of History - Irenaeus

Conclusion: The Cross - Pelikan's own proposal

The author does an excellent job of mining wisdom from each church father while also acknowledging the limitations of each model. The analogy of geometric shapes helps the reader follow complicated concepts and arguments rather easily. A relevant and brilliantly written historic study.