Heaven and Hell: A History of the Afterlife

Where did the ideas of heaven and hell come from? 'An engaging but expert guide.' THE TIMES As strange as it may seem to us now, there was a time when no one thought they would go to heaven or hell after they died. In fact, there is no mention of them in the Old Testament, and Jesus did not believe the souls of the departed were bound for either realm. In this gripping history of the afterlife, Bart Ehrman reveals how the concepts of heaven and hell developed and took hold, and why they endure to this day. He examines the social, cultural and historical roots of competing views held by Greeks, Jews and Christians, and traces how beliefs changed over time. Ultimately, he shows that many of our ideas about heaven and hell emerged long after Jesus’s time, through the struggle to explain the injustices of the world. *** 'There’s no one I’d rather read on what Christians believe, and why they believe it, than Bart Ehrman.' TOM BISSELL, AUTHOR OF APOSTLE 'An impressively readable, clear and wide-ranging study.' SPECTATOR 'This elegant history explores the evolution of the concept of the afterlife in Western thought... presented with engaging clarity.' THE NEW YORKER

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments Preface   Chapter One: Guided Tours of Heaven and Hell Chapter Two: The Fear of Death Chapter Three: Life After Death Before There Was Life After Death Chapter Four: Will Justice Be Done? The Rise of Postmortem Rewards and Punishments Chapter Five: Death After Death in the Hebrew Bible Chapter Six: Dead Bodies That Return to Life: The Resurrection in Ancient Israel Chapter Seven: Why Wait for the Resurrection? Life After Death Right After Death Chapter Eight: Jesus and the Afterlife Chapter Nine: The Afterlife After Jesus’s Life: Paul the Apostle Chapter Ten: Altering the Views of Jesus: The Later Gospels Chapter Eleven: The Afterlife Mysteries of the Book of Revelation Chapter Twelve: Eternal Life in the Flesh Chapter Thirteen: Tactile Ecstasy and Torment in the Christian Hereafter Chapter Fourteen: Who Will Inherit the Blessings? Purgatory, Reincarnation, and Salvation for All   Afterword Notes Index

About the Author :
Bart D. Ehrman is the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and the New York Times bestselling author of Misquoting Jesus and How Jesus Became God. He has contributed to such major publications and media outlets as Time, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, NBC, CNN and the BBC.

Review :
‘[Ehrman’s] is a vast learning worn wonderfully lightly and he is an engaging but expert guide around how religious ideas were formed and shaped our world.’ ‘This elegant history explores the evolution of the concept of the afterlife in Western thought... Well-trod subjects are presented with engaging clarity, and more contentious theories are laid out carefully.’ ‘Many redoubtable volumes have been written about all this, but Ehrman, who already has more than two-dozen books on early Christianity under his belt, merrily blows the dust off the subject.’ ‘As lucid, learned and fascinating as ever, Ehrman has written a brilliant book on a profoundly important topic. Wonderful.’ ‘An impressively readable, clear and wide-ranging study.’  ‘Ehrman, as always, writes in a very accessible way, and gives the reader plenty to think about.’ ‘A number of religions and philosophies give detailed accounts of post-mortem existence; in this learned and highly readable book, Bart Ehrman offers a tour of the whole field… There are many nuances possible here; Ehrman presents them all with great clarity and massive scholarship.' ‘The reader is struck by his nimbleness in drawing the thread of this rich-layered narrative, sprinkling larger thematic arcs with anecdotes that honor the non-lineal and multivalent nature of eschatological thought.’ ‘Do after-life threats and promises distract from this-world problems and hopes? Could heaven and hell be options in the present here-and-now rather than locations in the future then-and-here? Read this book and think.’ ‘There’s no one I’d rather read on what Christians believe, and why they believe it, than Bart Ehrman. This is a wise and fascinating book.’ ‘Ehrman’s eloquent understanding of how death is viewed through many spiritual traditions is scintillating, fresh, and will appeal to scholars and lay readers alike.’ ‘Honest discussion about this is long overdue… [‘Heaven and Hell’] is a wide-ranging book.'