Heaven and Hell: A History of the Afterlife

Description

Whether we believe in them or not, we are all familiar with the concepts of heaven and hell. There was a time, however, when no one thought they would go to either of these places after they died. In fact, Jesus didn't believe a dead person's soul was bound for heaven or hell, and these ideas are nowhere to be found in the Old Testament. So, where did they come from? From the Epic of Gilgamesh to the writings of Augustine, Bart Ehrman provides a fascinating and thought-provoking history of the afterlife. He traces how beliefs changed over time and reveals the social, cultural and historical roots of competing views held by Greeks, Jews and Christians. 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 our world.

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.

'[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.' * The Times * '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.' * The Economist * '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.' * The New Yorker * 'Ehrman, as always, writes in a very accessible way, and gives the reader plenty to think about.' * Irish Independent * 'An impressively readable, clear and wide-ranging study.' -- Spectator '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.' * TLS *