Affirms
Eternal life with God is the hope that sustains communal faithfulness
Hutterites affirm the hope of eternal life with God for those who remain faithful. This hope sustained the early Hutterites through intense persecution — hundreds were martyred — and continues to sustain the community's countercultural commitment to simple, communal, nonresistant life.
The Hutterite Chronicle (Geschichtsbuch) records the martyrdom stories of early Hutterites who faced death with confidence in the resurrection. This eschatological hope is embedded in the community's identity: the present communal life is a foretaste of the Kingdom of God, and the eternal Kingdom is the fulfillment of what the community embodies now.
Key Distinctions
- Heaven nature:
- eternal conscious presence with God; beatific vision; transformed creation
- Access timing:
- at final resurrection and judgment (Last Day)
- Bodily resurrection:
- full bodily resurrection; glorified body reunited with soul
Scripture References
Sources
- Peter Riedemann, Rechenschaft (1542)
- Hutterite Chronicle (Geschichtsbuch)