The name Ben Finiti is borrowed from Dante’s Purgatorio. It translates as “Those who have finished well”, and is addressed to the souls in Purgatory. They have lived sinful lives, but were able to repent and be forgiven at some point before they died.
For anyone living, it is therefore an aspiration rather than a fact.
Comments
Lutherans don’t have a doctrine of purgatory, but if we did I’ve always imagined it would be seven days on folding chairs at a church convention.
Thanks for the post at First Things.
Russ Saltzman