By the following century Lutheran theology had returned to the medieval tradition in which it was thought that the souls of the departed already live in
blessedness with Christ in a bodiless condition, and where, for this reason, the significance of the
general resurrection was considerably lessened.56 It was left to extremist Christian groups, such as the Anabaptists, to affirm the doctrine of soul - sleep and to describe human destiny solely in terms of a fleshly resurrection at the end - time.