A View Of Heaven In Elizabeth Phelps's The Gates Ajar

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In The Gates Ajar, Elizabeth Phelps uses the character of Aunt Winifred to articulate a view of heaven which stands in sharp contrast to other views of the time. Namely, Aunt Winifred proposes a heaven where rather than an individual losing their relationships and former joys, the individual is still able to know and love other people. Furthermore, remaining in community with others is not a threat to worshipping God, but a natural and appropriate thing due to humanity’s nature as individual and communal creatures. This view of heaven has long reaching effects beyond Phelps’ immediate context in post-Civil War America, and is still popular in certain churches today.
For Phelps, heaven is indeed a place where the object is to worship God; however,

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