death, dying, afterlife and beyond

Milkman
Milkman Member Posts: 4,880 ✭✭✭
edited November 2024 in English Forum

I'm looking for some resources that are about death etc. They can be resources associated with ANE cultures, NT era, or modern studies.

I don't have many if any resources specifically focused on the above. So anything suggested would be very helpful.

mm.

Comments

  • DMB
    DMB Member Posts: 14,465 ✭✭✭✭

    My absolute favorite is https://www.logos.com/product/24072/immortality-and-the-modern-mind  Ignore the Logos.com write up.  Lake (who spent quite a bit of time on the apostolic fathers) goes into how the concepts moved forward.  Inexpensive and a great read on the beach.  After you finish, you'll pause to look out to sea and wonder.

    I'm assuming you don't want jewish burial practices, the cult of the dead, and so forth.

    "If myth is ideology in narrative form, then scholarship is myth with footnotes." B. Lincolm 1999.

  • Milkman
    Milkman Member Posts: 4,880 ✭✭✭

    Funny thing I've read part of it and thought 'not bad.'

    Wondering if it might indeed be a 'great read on the beach' while in Mexico (this Saturday). However, I could be reading such book, thinking about golfing later on that day and trying to procure another margarita for me and my wife.

    Soooo - a book on dying, death and immortality might just be something a bit too close if my thoughts actually come in to play (golf that is).

    Better not lay on the beach with such thoughts, golfing that is. Oh bartender? 'nother round please.

    Denise said:

    My absolute favorite is https://www.logos.com/product/24072/immortality-and-the-modern-mind  Ignore the Logos.com write up.  Lake (who spent quite a bit of time on the apostolic fathers) goes into how the concepts moved forward.  Inexpensive and a great read on the beach.  After you finish, you'll pause to look out to sea and wonder.

    I'm assuming you don't want jewish burial practices, the cult of the dead, and so forth.

  • Rosie Perera
    Rosie Perera Member Posts: 26,194 ✭✭✭✭✭
  • Rosie Perera
    Rosie Perera Member Posts: 26,194 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Oh, here's another good one:

    Life in the Face of Death: The Resurrection Message of the New Testament by Richard N. Longenecker (Eerdmans, 1998)

    Contents

    Contributors

    Preface

    1.   Introduction

    RICHARD N. LONGENECKER

    I.    BACKGROUND PERSPECTIVES

    2.   Life, Death, and the Afterlife in the Ancient Near East

    EDWIN YAMAUCHI

    3.   Life, Death, and the Afterlife in the Greco-Roman World

    PETER G. BOLT

    4.   Life, Death, and the Afterlife in Second Temple Judaism

    RICHARD BAUCKHAM

    II.  PORTRAYALS OF JESUS AND HIS TEACHING

    5.   Gospel, Kingdom, and Resurrection in the Synoptic Gospels

    DONALD A. HAGNER

    6.   “I Am the Resurrection and the Life”:

    The Resurrection Message of the Fourth Gospel

    ANDREW T. LINCOLN

    III. THE MESSAGE OF PAUL

    7.   Resurrection and Immortality in the Pauline Corpus

    MURRAY J. HARRIS

    8.   Is There Development in Paul’s Resurrection Thought?

    RICHARD N. LONGENECKER

    9.   Resurrection and the Christian Life in Paul’s Letters

    G. WALTER HANSEN

    IV. EXPERIENCES OF THE EARLY CHURCH

    10. “Witnesses of His Resurrection”:

    Resurrection, Salvation, Discipleship, and Mission in the Acts of the Apostles

    JOEL B. GREEN

    11. Living a Life of Faith in the Face of Death:

    The Witness of Hebrews

    WILLIAM L. LANE

    12. Witness and the Resurrection in the Apocalypse of John

    ALLISON A. TRITES

    Index of Subjects

    Index of Modern Authors

    Index of Scripture and Other Ancient Literature

  • Deacon Steve
    Deacon Steve Member Posts: 1,608 ✭✭✭

    You may want to do a search on "eschatology" in the catalog.  There are a number of resources available.  Unfortunately, Ratzinger's work is not among them.  However, you can get Balthasar's contribution.

  • Milkman see if this helps.

    Foreword by Edward William Fudge
    Abbreviations
    Introduction

    Part I Gehenna

    I Background
    II Gehenna in Mark 9:43–50
    III Gehenna in Matthew 5:29–30 and 18:8–9
    IV Gehenna in Matthew 10:28
    V Gehenna in Matthew 5:21–22; 23:15; 23:33
    VI Gehenna in Luke 12:4–5

    Part II Hades

    VII Background
    VIII Matthew 11:20–24 and Luke 10:12–15
    IX Matthew 16:13–20
    X Luke 16:19–31

    Part III Abyss and Tartarus

    XI Background
    XII Luke 8:31

    Part IV The Outer Darkness where there is Weeping and Gnashing of Teeth

    XIII Background
    XIV Luke 13:28
    XV Matthew 8:12
    XVI Matthew 13:24–30 and 36–43
    XVII Matthew 13:47–50
    XVIII Matthew 22:1–14
    XIX Matthew 24:45–51
    XX Matthew 25:14–30

    Synopsis and Synthesis
    Bibliography
    Scripture Index
    Other Ancient Sources


    Kim Papaioannou, The Geography of Hell in the Teaching of Jesus: Gehenna, Hades, the Abyss, the Outer Darkness Where There Is Weeping and Gnashing of Teeth (Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2013), vii–viii.

    Mission: To serve God as He desires.

  • MJ. Smith
    MJ. Smith MVP Posts: 55,148

    I assume the Egyptian Book of the Dead (Budge) has been mentioned somewhere ... the Tibetans also have a good Book of the Dead.[;)] but that might be a bit farther afield than you indicated. The rituals associated with dying and burial in a variety of traditions should also provide interesting information.

    Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."

  • RyanB
    RyanB Member Posts: 686 ✭✭✭

    Milkman said:

    I'm looking for some resources that are about death etc. They can be resources associated with ANE cultures, NT era, or modern studies.

    I really like Beyond Death - Exploring the Evidence for Immortality by J.P. Moreland and Gary Habermas. It's not available on Logos or Vyrso but I recommend it.

  • Sean
    Sean Member Posts: 1,807 ✭✭✭

    Logos put out an classic eschatology bundle of mostly 19C/early 20C books, many of which cover this topic extensively. I am not, however, too impressed with a lot of the theological presuppositions commonly accepted without examination in that era (i.e., Greek immortality of the soul accepted as axiomatic).

    One of my favorite books of all time is N. T. Wright's The Resurrection of the Son of God. A lengthy work, it deals extensively with ANE beliefs about death and life after death (and life after life after death). Here are the relevant bits from the Table of Contents:


    2 Shadows, Souls and Where They Go: Life Beyond Death in Ancient Paganism
    1. Introduction
    2. Shadows, Souls, or Potential Gods?
    (i) Introduction
    (ii) Witless Shadows in a Murky World?
    (iii) Disembodied but Otherwise Fairly Normal?
    (iv) Souls Released from Prison?
    (v) Becoming a God (or at least a Star)?
    3. Further Life from within the World of the Dead?
    (i) Introduction
    (ii) Eating with the Dead
    (iii) Spirits, Souls and Ghosts
    (iv) Returning from the Underworld
    (v) Cheating Death: The Scheintod Motif in Novels
    (vi) Translated to Be With the Gods
    (vii) Transmigration of Souls
    (viii) Dying and Rising Gods
    4. Conclusion: The One-Way Street

    3 Time to Wake Up (1): Death and Beyond in the Old Testament
    1. Introduction
    2. Asleep with the Ancestors
    p viii (i) Next to Nothingness
    (ii) Disturbing the Dead
    (iii) The Unexplained Exceptions
    (iv) The Land of No Return
    (v) The Nature and Ground of Hope
    3. And Afterwards?
    (i) Introduction
    (ii) Delivered from Sheol?
    (iii) Glory after Suffering?
    (iv) The Basis of Future Hope
    4. Awakening the Sleepers
    (i) Introduction
    (ii) Daniel 12: The Sleepers Wake, the Wise Shine
    (iii) The Servant and the Dust-Dwellers: Isaiah
    (iv) On the Third Day: Hosea
    (v) Dry Bones and God’s Breath: Ezekiel
    (vi) Resurrection and the Hope of Israel
    5. Conclusion

    4 Time to Wake Up (2): Hope Beyond Death in Post-Biblical Judaism
    1. Introduction: The Spectrum
    2. No Future Life, or None to Speak of: The Sadducees
    3. Blessed (and Disembodied) Immortality
    4. Resurrection in Second-Temple Judaism
    (i) Introduction
    (ii) Resurrection in the Bible: The More Greek the Better
    (iii) New Life for the Martyrs: 2 Maccabees
    (iv) Judgment and Life in God’s New World: Resurrection and Apocalyptic
    (v) Resurrection as the Vindication of the Suffering Wise: The Wisdom of Solomon
    (vi) Resurrection, in Other Words: Josephus
    (vii) Resurrection at Qumran?
    (viii) Pseudo-Philo, Biblical Antiquities
    (ix) Pharisees, Rabbis and Targumim
    5. Resurrection in Ancient Judaism: Conclusion


    Wright, N.T., 2003. The resurrection of the Son of God, London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.

    That part of the work covers about 175 pages. The rest is some of the best stuff written about early Christian beliefs about the resurrection of Jesus. There's a lot of substance in this work and I can't recommend it highly enough.