Life After Death: A History of the Afterlife in Western ReligionA magisterial work of social history, Life After Death illuminates the many different ways ancient civilizations grappled with the question of what exactly happens to us after we die. In a masterful exploration of how Western civilizations have defined the afterlife, Alan F. Segal weaves together biblical and literary scholarship, sociology, history, and philosophy. A renowned scholar, Segal examines the maps of the afterlife found in Western religious texts and reveals not only what various cultures believed but how their notions reflected their societies’ realities and ideals, and why those beliefs changed over time. He maintains that the afterlife is the mirror in which a society arranges its concept of the self. The composition process for Judaism, Christianity, and Islam begins in grief and ends in the victory of the self over death. Arguing that in every religious tradition the afterlife represents the ultimate reward for the good, Segal combines historical and anthropological data with insights gleaned from religious and philosophical writings to explain the following mysteries: why the Egyptians insisted on an afterlife in heaven, while the body was embalmed in a tomb on earth; why the Babylonians viewed the dead as living in underground prisons; why the Hebrews remained silent about life after death during the period of the First Temple, yet embraced it in the Second Temple period (534 B.C.E. –70 C.E.); and why Christianity placed the afterlife in the center of its belief system. He discusses the inner dialogues and arguments within Judaism and Christianity, showing the underlying dynamic behind them, as well as the ideas that mark the differences between the two religions. In a thoughtful examination of the influence of biblical views of heaven and martyrdom on Islamic beliefs, he offers a fascinating perspective on the current troubling rise of Islamic fundamentalism. In tracing the organic, historical relationships between sacred texts and communities of belief and comparing the visions of life after death that have emerged throughout history, Segal sheds a bright, revealing light on the intimate connections between notions of the afterlife, the societies that produced them, and the individual’s search for the ultimate meaning of life on earth. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 85
Page 3
... culture contain different and conflicting views of the af- terlife at the same time ? Since all these cultures told stories of people who went to heaven , what did people find when they went there while yet alive , and why was it ...
... culture contain different and conflicting views of the af- terlife at the same time ? Since all these cultures told stories of people who went to heaven , what did people find when they went there while yet alive , and why was it ...
Page 4
... culture would be an interest- ing cultural history in itself , but it would avoid the hard questions . Jerry L. Walls begins his serious and quite sophisticated inquiry into heaven in Heaven : The Logic of Eternal Joy3 with a crucial ...
... culture would be an interest- ing cultural history in itself , but it would avoid the hard questions . Jerry L. Walls begins his serious and quite sophisticated inquiry into heaven in Heaven : The Logic of Eternal Joy3 with a crucial ...
Page 13
... culture is full of significant depictions of an after- life everywhere . We seem to live with these depictions and the attendant contradictions that come with them without difficulty , as have cultures everywhere in the past . Although ...
... culture is full of significant depictions of an after- life everywhere . We seem to live with these depictions and the attendant contradictions that come with them without difficulty , as have cultures everywhere in the past . Although ...
Page 15
... culture . In particular , the Mousterians left flowers , grain , and other grave goods in their interments , suggesting that they believed the departed could use the implements they provided for them . " Assuming for a moment that we ...
... culture . In particular , the Mousterians left flowers , grain , and other grave goods in their interments , suggesting that they believed the departed could use the implements they provided for them . " Assuming for a moment that we ...
Page 16
... complex mythi- cal polemic and equilibrium with their neighboring cultures . First of all , study of notions of afterlife in the Bible will demonstrate the goals and interests of the culture that produced them , 16 INTRODUCTION.
... complex mythi- cal polemic and equilibrium with their neighboring cultures . First of all , study of notions of afterlife in the Bible will demonstrate the goals and interests of the culture that produced them , 16 INTRODUCTION.
Contents
1 | |
27 | |
70 | |
The First Temple Period in Israel | 120 |
Iranian Views of the Afterlife and Ascent to the Heavens | 173 |
Greek and Classical Views of Life After Death | 204 |
The Rise of a Beatific | 248 |
PART THREE Visions of Resurrection and | 283 |
The Gospels in Contrast to Pauls Writings | 441 |
The Pseudepigraphic Literature | 478 |
The Church Fathers and Their Opponents | 532 |
The Early Rabbis | 596 |
Muslim Christian | 639 |
Immortal Longings | 697 |
Notes | 733 |
Bibliography | 783 |
Other editions - View all
Life After Death: A History of the Afterlife in the Religions of the West Alan F. Segal No preview available - 2004 |
Common terms and phrases
Adapa afterlife ancient angels apocalyptic apocalypticism ascent beatific believe Bible Biblical body Canaanite century Christ Christian church consciousness context cult culture Dead Sea Scrolls death depiction described divine doctrine early earth Egypt Egyptian Enoch Epic evidence evil experience faith flesh fundamentalist Gilgamesh Gnostic God's gods Gospel Gospel of Thomas Greek heaven heavenly journey Hebrew Hebrew Bible hell Hellenistic human immortality Inanna interpretation Isaiah Islam Israel Israelite Jesus Jewish mysticism Jews Josephus Judaism judgment king literature living Lord martyrdom martyrs means Merkabah Mesopotamia Messiah Mishnah moral Muslim myth narrative notion Osiris passage Paul Paul's Persian person Philo philosophical Plato prophecy prophet punishment Qumran Rabbinic religion religious resurrection revelation reward righteous ritual Roman salvation Scripture seems social soul spirit stars story suggests Temple term Testament theurgy thought tion tomb tradition transcendent transformation Ugarit understand University Press vision word YHWH Zoroastrianism
Popular passages
Page 628 - And they saw the God of Israel : and there was under his feet, as it were, a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness. And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand : also they saw God, and did eat and drink.
Page 206 - For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, Shall remain before me, saith the Lord, So shall your seed and your name remain.
Page 420 - Now the Lord is the Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
Page 389 - But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and there shall no torment touch them. In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die: and their departure is taken for misery. And their going from us to be utter destruction: but they are in peace.
Page 730 - Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou growest : So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this and this gives life to thee.
Page 252 - For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again ; neither doth God respect any person : yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him.
Page 565 - You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.
Page 438 - We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.
Page 159 - And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof!