The Early History of HeavenWhen we think of "heaven," we generally conjure up positive, blissful images. Heaven is, after all, where God is and where good people go after death to receive their reward. But how and why did Western cultures come to imagine the heavenly realm in such terms? Why is heaven usually thought to be "up there," far beyond the visible sky? And what is the source of the idea that the post mortem abode of the righteous is in this heavenly realm with God? Seeking to discover the roots of these familiar notions, this volume traces the backgrounds, origin, and development of early Jewish and Christian speculation about the heavenly realm -- where it is, what it looks like, and who its inhabitants are. Wright begins his study with an examination of the beliefs of ancient Israel's neighbors Egypt and Mesopotamia, reconstructing the intellectual context in which the earliest biblical images of heaven arose. A detailed analysis of the Hebrew biblical texts themselves then reveals that the Israelites were deeply influenced by images drawn from the surrounding cultures. Wright goes on to examine Persian and Greco-Roman beliefs, thus setting the stage for his consideration of early Jewish and Christian images, which he shows to have been formed in the struggle to integrate traditional biblical imagery with the newer Hellenistic ideas about the cosmos. In a final chapter Wright offers a brief survey of how later Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions envisioned the heavenly realms. Accessible to a wide range of readers, this provocative book will interest anyone who is curious about the origins of this extraordinarily pervasive and influential idea. |
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J. Edward Wright. The Early History of Heaven This page intentionally left blank THE EARLY HISTORY OF HEAVEN.
J. Edward Wright. The Early History of Heaven This page intentionally left blank THE EARLY HISTORY OF HEAVEN.
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... history . Nonetheless , the sky has also been the most mysterious part of our world , and even today we continue to ... history.1 The great popularity of Carl Sagan's book and tele- vision series Cosmos and Steven Hawking's book A Brief ...
... history . Nonetheless , the sky has also been the most mysterious part of our world , and even today we continue to ... history.1 The great popularity of Carl Sagan's book and tele- vision series Cosmos and Steven Hawking's book A Brief ...
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... WVDOG ZA ZAW Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft ZNW Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft Zeitschrift für Assyriologie The Early History of Heaven This page intentionally left blank xviii Abbreviations.
... WVDOG ZA ZAW Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft ZNW Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft Zeitschrift für Assyriologie The Early History of Heaven This page intentionally left blank xviii Abbreviations.
Contents
3 | |
2 Ancient Mesopotamian Traditions | 26 |
3 Israelite Traditions | 52 |
4 Persian Greek and Roman Traditions | 98 |
The Persistence of Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Models | 117 |
The Adoption of Hellenistic Models | 139 |
Common Themes and Motifs | 185 |
8 Later Developments in Jewish Christian and Islamic Images | 203 |
Notes | 215 |
Bibliography | 279 |
Index | 311 |
Index to Biblical and Ancient Sources | 314 |
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Common terms and phrases
afterlife ancient Israelites Ancient Near East ancient Near Eastern angels Apoc Apocalypse Apocalypse of Paul appears Aramaic ascend to heaven Asherah astronomy Babylonian Baruch belief biblical blessed Book Book of Enoch Canaanite celestial bodies celestial realm century BCE Coffin Texts cosmic cosmography cosmos cultures death depiction Dilmun divine presence E. J. Brill early Jewish earthly Enlil Enoch Enûma Elish Ezra fifth heaven Figure gates Gilgamesh goddess gods Greco-Roman Greek heavenly realm Hebrew Bible Hellenistic History holy humans idea imagined immortality Israel Israelite Jerusalem Jewish and Christian Jews journey Judaism Keel king Levi Michael moon MUL.APIN multiple heavens myth netherworld Note palace Paradise Paul Persian planets plural prayer punishment Pyramid Texts Qumran recension Religion religious righteous schema seven-heaven soul spheres stars Sumerian temple Testament Testament of Abraham Testament of Levi third heaven throne traditions Ugarit University Press vision worship Yahweh York
Popular passages
Page 57 - In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
Page xvi - JAOS Journal of the American Oriental Society JBL Journal of Biblical Literature JCS Journal of Cuneiform Studies JJS Journal of Jewish Studies JNES Journal of Near Eastern Studies...
Page 53 - Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
Page 86 - I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.
Page 82 - I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.
Page 148 - I know a man in Christ who, fourteen years ago, was caught up to the third heaven — whether in the body I do not know, God knows.
Page 87 - My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle* and come to their end without hope.
Page 54 - You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
Page 196 - And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
Page 86 - Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended ? who hath gathered the wind in his fists ? who hath bound the waters in a garment ? who hath established all the ends of the earth ? what is his name, and what is his son's name, if thou canst tell ? 5 Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.