Journeys to heaven and hell : tours of the afterlife in early christian tradition / Bart D. Ehrman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ehrman, Bart D., author.

Contributor:

Rosengarten Family Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Future life.

Future life--Christianity.

Heaven--Christianity.

Heaven.

Hell--Christianity.

Hell.

Physical Description:

xii, 328 pages ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

New Haven [CT] : Yale University Press, [2022]

Summary:

"From classics such as the Odyssey and the Aeneid to fifth-century Christian apocrypha, narratives that described guided tours of the afterlife played a major role in shaping ancient notions of morality and ethics. In this new account, acclaimed author Bart Ehrman contextualizes early Christian narratives of heaven and hell within the broader intellectual and cultural worlds from which they emerged. He examines how fundamental social experiences of the early Christian communities molded the conceptions of the afterlife that eventuated in the accepted doctrines of heaven, hell, and purgatory"--Dust jacket flap.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: 1. The Realities of Death and the Meaning of Life I: Journeys to Hades in Homer and Virgil

2. The Realities of Death and the Meaning of Life II: Jewish and Christian Journeys

3. Incentives from the World Beyond: Christian Ethics and Evangelism

4. The Afterlife of Afterlives: Editorial Interventions and Christology

5. The Justice and Mercy of God in Textual Conflict

6. The Power of Christ and the Harrowing of Hell.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 289-305) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Rosengarten Family Fund.

ISBN:

9780300257007

0300257007

OCLC:

1265086084