General judgment is the

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...

theological Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing th ...

concept of a judgment of the dead. When the individual dies, general judgment holds that the person's final dispensation will await the general judgment of the dead at the end of the world, rather than be judged immediately. It is generally contrasted with a

particular judgment Particular judgment, according to Christian eschatology, is the divine judgment that a departed person undergoes immediately after death, in contradistinction to the general judgment (or Last Judgment) of all people at the end of the world. ...

right after death. It is related closely to

Judgment Day The Last Judgment, Final Judgment, Day of Reckoning, Day of Judgment, Judgment Day, Doomsday, Day of Resurrection or The Day of the Lord (; ar, یوم القيامة, translit=Yawm al-Qiyāmah or ar, یوم الدین, translit=Yawm ad-Dīn, ...

and often is just another phrase for the

Last Judgment The Last Judgment, Final Judgment, Day of Reckoning, Day of Judgment, Judgment Day, Doomsday, Day of Resurrection or The Day of the Lord (; ar, یوم القيامة, translit=Yawm al-Qiyāmah or ar, یوم الدین, translit=Yawm ad-Dīn, ...

or Final Judgement.

In the Bible

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...

provided examples and illustrations of judgments against cities and generations. Jesus warned his contemporaries that the men of

Nineveh Nineveh (; akk, ; Biblical Hebrew: '; ar, نَيْنَوَىٰ '; syr, ܢܝܼܢܘܹܐ, Nīnwē) was an ancient Assyrian city of Upper Mesopotamia, located in the modern-day city of Mosul in northern Iraq. It is located on the eastern b ...

, who repented at the preaching of

Jonah Jonah or Jonas, ''Yōnā'', "dove"; gr, Ἰωνᾶς ''Iōnâs''; ar, يونس ' or '; Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spo ...

, and the Queen of the South would testify against them in the judgment. In the same speech, Jesus declared woes upon the cities of Chorazin and Bethsaida declaring that the cities of

Sodom Sodom may refer to: Places Historic * Sodom and Gomorrah, cities mentioned in the Book of Genesis United States * Sodom, Kentucky, a ghost town * Sodom, New York, a hamlet * Sodom, Ohio, an unincorporated community * Sodom, West Virginia, an ...

, Tyre, and

Sidon Sidon ( ; he, צִידוֹן, ''Ṣīḏōn'') known locally as Sayda or Saida ( ar, صيدا ''Ṣaydā''), is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located in the South Governorate, of which it is the capital, on the Mediterranean coast ...

would have a more tolerable outcome in the judgement.

Catholic view

The position is hinted at in several places in both the Old and in the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...

, and the ''

Catholic Encyclopedia The ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'' (also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedia'') i ...

'' says (here referring to the Last Judgment) "Few truths are more often or more clearly proclaimed in Scripture than that of the general judgment". A decisive factor in the Last Judgment will be the question of whether the corporal

works of mercy Works of mercy (sometimes known as acts of mercy) are practices considered meritorious in Christian ethics. The practice is popular in the Catholic Church as an act of both penance and charity. In addition, the Methodist church teaches that t ...

were practiced during a lifetime or not. They rate as important acts of charity. Therefore, and according to the biblical sources (Matthew 5:31-46), the conjunction of the Last Judgment and the

is very frequent in the pictorial tradition of Christian art.

Ralf van Bühren Ralf van Bühren (born 3 February 1962) is a German art historian, architectural historian, church historian, and theologian, who teaches at the Pontifical University of Santa Croce in Rome. His art history lectures are open to students of US un ...

,
Caravaggio’s ‘Seven Works of Mercy’ in Naples. The relevance of art history to cultural journalism
', in ''Church, Communication and Culture'' 2 (2017), pp. 63-87.

References

{{Christian-theology-stub Judgment in Christianity Christian terminology

In the Bible

Catholic view

See also

Further reading

References