Excavating The Afterlife

In Excavating the Afterlife, Guolong Lai explores the dialectical relationship between sociopolitical change and mortuary religion from an archaeological perspective. By examining burial structure, grave goods, and religious documents unearthed from groups of well-preserved tombs in southern China, Lai shows that new attitudes toward the dead, resulting from the trauma of violent political struggle and warfare, permanently altered the early Chinese conceptions of this world and the afterlife. The book grounds the important changes in religious beliefs and ritual practices firmly in the sociopolitical transition from the Warring States (ca. 453–221 BCE) to the early empires (3rd century–1st century BCE). A methodologically sophisticated synthesis of archaeological, art historical, and textual sources, Excavating the Afterlife will be of interest to art historians, archaeologists, and textual scholars of China, as well as to students of comparative religions. Art History Publication Initiative. For more information, visit http://arthistorypi.org/books/excavating-the-afterlife Honorable Mention for the 2016 Society for American Archaeology Book Award in the Scholarly Category

Belief in the afterlife is still very much alive in Western civilisation, even though the truth of its existence is no longer universally accepted. Surprisingly, however, heaven, hell and the immortal soul were all ideas which arrived relatively late in the ancient world. Originally Greece and Israel - the cultures that gave us Christianity - had only the vaguest ideas of an afterlife. So where did these concepts come from and why did they develop? In this fascinating, learned, but highly readable book, Jan N. Bremmer - one of the foremost authorities on ancient religion - takes a fresh look at the major developments in the Western imagination of the afterlife, from the ancient Greeks to the modern near-death experience.

A magisterial work of social history, Life After Death illuminates the many different ways ancient civilizations grappled with the question of what exactly happens to us after we die. In a masterful exploration of how Western civilizations have defined the afterlife, Alan F. Segal weaves together biblical and literary scholarship, sociology, history, and philosophy. A renowned scholar, Segal examines the maps of the afterlife found in Western religious texts and 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, Segal 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. He discusses the inner dialogues and arguments within Judaism and Christianity, showing the underlying dynamic behind them, as well as the ideas that mark the differences between the two religions. In a thoughtful examination of the influence of biblical views of heaven and martyrdom on Islamic beliefs, he offers a fascinating perspective on the current troubling rise of Islamic fundamentalism. In tracing the organic, historical relationships between sacred texts and communities of belief and comparing the visions of life after death that have emerged throughout history, Segal sheds a bright, revealing light on the intimate connections between notions of the afterlife, the societies that produced them, and the individual’s search for the ultimate meaning of life on earth.

These days we're taught that death is the period at the end of the sentence of life. A hard stop. The end. So, many of us have never had faith in the idea that death might just be a simple transition to another form of life. But suppose that's what it is? And suppose there's proof? The Afterlife Book takes a close look at the hidden workings of the spirit world and the endless life of the soul, how it all seems to function, and the earthly forces at play that influence the relationship between the afterlife and life as we know it. In the Book you'll find ancient mystics, oracles, and thinkers, Michio Kaku and his quantum physics world, Deepak Chopra and his spiritual philosophy, Caroline Myss and her work on Native American spirituality, Edgar Cayce and his psychic genius. Here you'll find Dr. Carl Jung, Dr. Raymond Moody, Jr., Dr. Brian Weiss, Dr. Ian Stevenson, and Dr. Jim Tucker and their research into death and memory. Here you'll find Albert Einstein and Pythagoras alongside a New Jersey cab driver, a Long Island executive, a California electrician, a Massachusetts singer, a Virginia woman of strong Christian faith. Here you'll find mediums from the 1700s on, including today's Jeffrey Wands, George Anderson, Lisa Williams, Theresa Caputo. Here you'll find Andy Griffith and Jerry Orbach and Elvis Presley, right alongside Socrates, Madame Blavatsky, Abraham Lincoln, and Amedeo Modigliani. Overall, The Afterlife Book is an informative and entertaining read, a book that talks about a whole new/old way of looking at life and after-life. Jeannie Reed notes, "Maybe after reading this, we won't be afraid of dying anymore."

A cross-cultural look at beliefs surrounding death, burial customs, and the afterlife.

Afterlife argues that proper conduct was believed essential for determining one's post-mortem judgment from the earliest periods in ancient Egypt and Greece. Part one examines Plato's eschatological myths regarding conduct as it affects one's afterlife fate. Part two traces the evolution of afterlife beliefs from Homer to the Dramatists and demonstrates that post-mortem reward and retribution, based on one's conduct, is already found in Homer. Pythagoreanism and Orphism further develop the afterlife beliefs that will have such enormous impact on Plato and later Christianity. The third part examines Egyptian religious texts of the 5th to 18th Dynasties for their understanding of virtues and vices that have afterlife consequences. In part four, the relationship between behavior and the afterlife beliefs of both societies are compared. In the earliest periods, the afterlife texts appear to be concerned only with the elite: the king in Egypt's Pyramid Texts and the heroes in Homeric Greece. Nevertheless, we show that, from the earliest times, both societies believed that the gods, primarily Maat in Egypt and Dike in Greece, were responsible for the proper ordering of the cosmos and anyone's violations of that order would reap the direst consequence--the loss of a beneficent afterlife.

A New York Times best-selling scholar's illuminating exploration of the earliest Christian narrated journeys to heaven and hell “[An] illuminating deep dive . . . An edifying origin story for contemporary Christian conceptions of the afterlife.”—Publishers Weekly From classics such as the Odyssey and the Aeneid to fifth-century Christian apocrypha, narratives that described guided tours of the afterlife played a major role in shaping ancient notions of morality and ethics. In this new account, acclaimed author Bart Ehrman contextualizes early Christian narratives of heaven and hell within the broader intellectual and cultural worlds from which they emerged. He examines how fundamental social experiences of the early Christian communities molded the conceptions of the afterlife that eventuated into the accepted doctrines of heaven, hell, and purgatory. Drawing on Greek and Roman epic poetry, early Jewish writings such as the Book of Watchers, and apocryphal Christian stories including the Acts of Thomas, the Gospel of Nicodemus, and the Apocalypse of Peter, Ehrman demonstrates that ancient tours of the afterlife promoted reflection on matters of ethics, faith, ambition, and life’s meaning, the fruit of which has been codified into Christian belief today.

This extraordinary book includes a broad spectrum of information that is focused into an easy-to-understand single best source on the Afterlife. "Death cannot separate us." Unlike all other books on this topic, The Definitive Book of the Afterlife introduces an astonishing new way of looking at the Afterlife. It is very different and profound - a true documentary that shares in-depth information and detailed experiences of dying, death, transition, and existence in the Afterlife - actual experiences!" In the very early stages of writing The Definitive Book on the Afterlife, Marshall Smith unexpectedly passed away through a tragic accident. However, he continued to contribute to the book by sharing his personal experiences of dying, death, and the Afterlife. Patricia Hayes, highly experienced in communicating with those in the Afterlife, and having shared this process with Marshall for three decades, documented over a hundred communications with Marshall who, now in the Afterlife, provided detailed information that greatly influenced the content and direction of this book. The information about the Afterlife conveyed in this book comes from Patricia Hayes' decades of first-hand experience with helping others to cross over, and with her frequent communication not only with her husband, but also with her brother, Fred. She shares intimate details of Marshall's dying, including his moment of death, transition, and acclimation to the Afterlife - intimate details that are made possible through their deep love and dedication to their personal and working relationship. Using Marshall's observations and understanding of his existence in the Afterlife, Patricia draws comparisons between the physical levels of consciousness and the levels of consciousness in the Afterlife, so that you will know what to expect and how to function. Practical and easy-to-understand, you discover what the transition process is like, how the Earth and Afterlife are intertwined, how to determine your place in the Afterlife, and, most important, how to communicate with your loved ones who are in the Afterlife while you are still here on Earth. The Definitive Book on the Afterlife transcends religious views of dying to share first-hand, direct experience with the process of dying and death, as well as the realities of being in the Afterlife. One thing is for sure -- you will never look at dying and death the same way again. Inspirational, transformative, comforting, reassuring - it is a must read!

The Whole Truth About the Afterlife: Journey of Dead People, Souls, Spirits and Minds After Death. Published by Times Square Press, New York. Foreword by Jennifer Wallens. Introduction by Patti Negri. - What happens to us when we die? - Where will we go after death? - Do we go to heaven, to hell, or to nowhere? - What will happen to us when we get there? - How dead people live after death? And where? - Where the afterlife is located? - Where does it start and where does it end? - And who is in charge of law and order in the afterlife? - We know where the mind is located in our body, so why we don't know where the soul is located inside the human body? - Did anybody see God in the afterlife? - Is the afterlife physical or non-physical? Perhaps half-half? If so, which part is physical, and which part is not?

A New York Times bestselling historian of early Christianity takes on two of the most gripping questions of human existence: where did the ideas of heaven and hell come from and why do they endure? What happens when we die? A recent Pew Research poll showed that 72% of Americans believe in a literal heaven and 58% believe in a literal hell. Most people who hold these beliefs are Christian and assume they are the age-old teachings of the Bible. But eternal rewards and punishments are found nowhere in the Old Testament and are not what Jesus or his disciples taught. So where did these ideas come from? In this “eloquent understanding of how death is viewed through many spiritual traditions” (Publishers Weekly, starred review), Bart Ehrman recounts the long history of the afterlife, ranging from The Epic of Gilgamesh up to the writings of Augustine, focusing especially on the teachings of Jesus and his early followers. He discusses ancient guided tours of heaven and hell, in which a living person observes the sublime blessings of heaven for those who are saved and the horrifying torments of hell for those who are damned. Some of these accounts take the form of near death experiences, the oldest on record, with intriguing similarities to those reported today. One of Ehrman’s startling conclusions is that there never was a single Greek, Jewish, or Christian understanding of the afterlife, but numerous competing views. Moreover, these views did not come from nowhere; they were intimately connected with the social, cultural, and historical worlds out of which they emerged. Only later, in the early Christian centuries, did they develop into notions of eternal bliss or damnation widely accepted today. In this “elegant history” (The New Yorker), Ehrman helps us reflect on where our ideas of the afterlife come from. With his “richly layered-narrative” (The Boston Globe) he assures us that even if there may be something to hope for when we die, there certainly is nothing to fear.