Life After Death: A History of the Afterlife in Western ReligionCrown Publishing Group, 23 juni 2010 - 880 sidor A 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. |
Från bokens innehåll
Resultat 1-5 av 91
Sida vii
... Temple _Iudai>m: The Risc of a Bcatific Afrcrlifr in thc Bible: 1.48 = l'AR'l' 'l'llRl£li. Visions of R¢surrccrion and rhr: lmmortality of thc Soul I Apocnlypticism and Millcuarianism: The Social Backgrounds to thc l\lnrtyrdmns in ...
... Temple _Iudai>m: The Risc of a Bcatific Afrcrlifr in thc Bible: 1.48 = l'AR'l' 'l'llRl£li. Visions of R¢surrccrion and rhr: lmmortality of thc Soul I Apocnlypticism and Millcuarianism: The Social Backgrounds to thc l\lnrtyrdmns in ...
Sida vii
... Temple Period in Israel PART TWO . From Climate to the Self 4. Iranian Views of the Afterlife and Ascent to the Heavens 5. Greek and Classical Views of Life After Death and Ascent to the Heavens 6. Second Temple Judaism : The Rise of a ...
... Temple Period in Israel PART TWO . From Climate to the Self 4. Iranian Views of the Afterlife and Ascent to the Heavens 5. Greek and Classical Views of Life After Death and Ascent to the Heavens 6. Second Temple Judaism : The Rise of a ...
Sida 3
... Temple times ( 1000-586 BCE ) and then begin to do so in Second Temple times ( 539 BCE - 70 CE ) ? Why did the Persians envision the afterlife as bodily res- urrection while many Greeks narrated the flight of a soul back to heaven ? How ...
... Temple times ( 1000-586 BCE ) and then begin to do so in Second Temple times ( 539 BCE - 70 CE ) ? Why did the Persians envision the afterlife as bodily res- urrection while many Greeks narrated the flight of a soul back to heaven ? How ...
Sida 22
... Temple religion , which is highly independent and highly polemical against these three cultures in the form we have in the Bible , is also deeply dependent upon them for its more basic concepts . We shall have to ask how characteristic ...
... Temple religion , which is highly independent and highly polemical against these three cultures in the form we have in the Bible , is also deeply dependent upon them for its more basic concepts . We shall have to ask how characteristic ...
Sida 42
... temple or shrine was dedicated . This story also legitimates the spread of the funerary cult and the primacy of the Osiris priesthood in its performance , as well as giving each locality a spe- cific role in the cult and hence a ...
... temple or shrine was dedicated . This story also legitimates the spread of the funerary cult and the primacy of the Osiris priesthood in its performance , as well as giving each locality a spe- cific role in the cult and hence a ...
Innehåll
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 |
Vanliga ord och fraser
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
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