Death and the afterlife in the New Testament / Jaime Clark-Soles.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Clark-Soles, Jaime, 1967-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Death--Biblical teaching.

Death.

Future life--Biblical teaching.

Future life.

Bible. New Testament--Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Bible.

Bible. New Testament.

Physical Description:

x, 261 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : T & T Clark, [2006]

Summary:

What happens when we die? What does the New Testament say about Hell? What does the New Testament say about Heaven? Jaime Clark-Soles attempts to offer some answers to these and other questions in Death and the Afterlife in the New Testament. She discovers that the New Testament says both more and less than we might hope or expect. Every time the subject of death and the afterlife arises, New Testament writers place their answers in the concerns and experiences of living Christian communities. The writers relate to a larger theological and pastoral agenda, and their primary focus remains life on earth and the proper living of it. Clark-Soles discovers that no author sets out to answer directly questions about death and the afterlife. There is no systematic theology in the New Testament regarding death and the afterlife.

Death and the Afterlife in the New Testament asks a simple question: What do various New Testament texts say about death and what happens after death? While other critics have sought to unify the New Testament witness, glossing over the individual pictures presented by the New Testament authors, Clark-Soles revels in the snapshots of death and its aftermath presented by individual writers. She inquires into the specific language that each New Testament author uses regarding death and afterlife. She explores anthropology, cosmology, eschatology, and, where relevant, theology and Christology in her examination of death and the afterlife in the New Testament. Finally, Clark-Soles suggests ways that New Testament texts such as John, Matthew, the Pauline epistles, and 1 Peter contribute to an investigation of death and afterlife in the New Testament in distinctive and, at times, even contradictory ways. Death and the Afterlife in the New Testament demonstrates the tremendous variety of New Testament views on death and what happens after death and shows how such views can function pastorally, theologically, socially, apologetically, or ethically within various Christian communities.

Contents:

Backgrounds

Paul : the ethics of death and afterlife

Death and afterlife in the Fourth Gospel

Death and afterlife in Matthew

Death and afterlife in the Petrine texts.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 229-237) and indexes.

ISBN:

0567029026

0567029123

9780567029027

9780567029126

OCLC:

70836671

Publisher Number:

9780567029027

9780567029126