دانلود کتاب Life After Death: A History of the Afterlife in Western Religion

In an exploration of how Western civilizations have defined the afterlife, [the author] weaves together biblical and literary scholarship, sociology, history, and philosophy. [The author] reveals not only what various cultures believed but how their notions reflected their societies' realities and ideals, and why those beliefs changed over time. He maintains that the afterlife is the mirror in which a society arranges its concept of the self. The composition process for Judaism, Christianity, and Islam begins in grief and ends in the victory of the self over death. Arguing that in every religious tradition the afterlife represents the ultimate reward for the good, [the author] combines historical and anthropological data with insights gleaned from religious and philosophical writings to explain the following mysteries: why the Egyptians insisted on an afterlife in heaven, while the body was embalmed in a tomb on earth; why the Babylonians viewed the dead as living in underground prisons; why the Hebrews remained silent about life after death during the period of the First Temple, yet embraced it in the Second Temple period (534 B.C.E.-70 C.E.); and why Christianity placed the afterlife in the center of its belief system.-Dust jacket.  Read more...