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Purgatory (Latin  purgatorium) is a “place of purification” in the afterlife. Heaven, hell, and purgatory constitute the core of the eschatological mindscape (Eschatology with fig. 1), which, specifically in the Roman (later Roman Catholic) tradition, shaped the Church’s social manifestation as an “institution of grace” (Max Weber) and was defined dogmatically in that sense. The groundwork was laid by the theologians of the early church without clear biblical support (despite 2 Macc 12:44 f. and 1…

1. Definition and substanceEschatology (the doctrine of the “last things,” Greek  éschata, Latin  novissima,  extrema) is the term coined in the 17th century for the theological doctrine of the end and consummate state of each individual as well as the cosmos as a whole (see 3.3. below); it also includes religious imaginings and their (pictorial) representation. But eschatology is not the same as futurology, which attempts to present a likely future through extrapolation, or utopia, which sketches a speculat…