Hereafter – oriented social and individual ethics in Shia and Catholicism

One of the critical topics in the field of theology is the relationship between religion and ethics. Under the discussion of the relationship between religion and ethics, the relationship between the hereafter is considered one of the most important. If in religions, especially Abrahamic religions, theology is considered their point of difference, then ethics can be considered the common thread of all these religions. Of course, moral teachings in Islam and Christianity are more eminent than in other religions. What a Shia Muslim and a Catholic Christian have in common is, on the one hand, a set of moral teachings and, on the other hand, a belief in other teachings, including the hereafter. Just as there is a significant relationship between religion and morality, such a relationship can also be imagined between morality and the hereafter. When these two categories are placed together, they have a mutually influential relationship. The afterlife affects morality in several ways. The afterlife in Shia is indeed different from Christianity's in many ways. However, some things are shared between them, including the resurrection of the dead, judgment of actions, and reckoning. This leads us to commonalities in these two religions regarding the relationship between morality and the hereafter. Finally, what has been obtained from the research in this regard is that in both religions, the hereafter affects morality in three areas: giving meaning, giving motivation, and giving purpose. This article will investigate various aspects of this effect with an analytical and comparative method.