Journeys To Heaven and Hell Tours of The Afterlife in The Early Christian Tradition 1st Edition Bart D. Ehrman 2024 Scribd Download
Journeys To Heaven and Hell Tours of The Afterlife in The Early Christian Tradition 1st Edition Bart D. Ehrman 2024 Scribd Download
Journeys To Heaven and Hell Tours of The Afterlife in The Early Christian Tradition 1st Edition Bart D. Ehrman 2024 Scribd Download
com
https://ebookmeta.com/product/journeys-to-heaven-
and-hell-tours-of-the-afterlife-in-the-early-
christian-tradition-1st-edition-bart-d-ehrman/
OR CLICK BUTTON
DOWLOAD EBOOK
https://ebookmeta.com/product/resurrection-hell-and-the-
afterlife-1st-edition-mark-finney/
https://ebookmeta.com/product/the-politics-of-heaven-and-hell-
christian-themes-from-classical-medieval-and-modern-political-
philosophy-1st-edition-james-v-schall/
https://ebookmeta.com/product/hell-and-heaven-wayfinding-2-1st-
edition-hugh-howey/
https://ebookmeta.com/product/orthodox-christian-material-
culture-of-people-and-things-in-the-making-of-heaven-timothy-
carroll/
Journeys in Narrative Inquiry The Selected Works of D
Jean Clandinin D Jean Clandinin
https://ebookmeta.com/product/journeys-in-narrative-inquiry-the-
selected-works-of-d-jean-clandinin-d-jean-clandinin/
https://ebookmeta.com/product/royal-journeys-in-early-modern-
europe-progresses-palaces-and-panache-1st-edition-anthony-musson-
j-p-d-cooper/
https://ebookmeta.com/product/educating-early-christians-through-
the-rhetoric-of-hell-weeping-and-gnashing-of-teeth-as-paideia-in-
matthew-and-the-early-church-meghan-henning/
https://ebookmeta.com/product/the-rich-and-the-pure-philanthropy-
and-the-making-of-christian-society-in-early-byzantium-first-
edition-caner/
https://ebookmeta.com/product/divine-agency-and-divine-action-
volume-ii-soundings-in-the-christian-tradition-1st-edition-
william-j-abraham/
JOURNEYS TO HEAVEN AND HELL
JOURNEYS TO HEAVEN AND HELL
Tours of the Afterlife in the Early
Christian Tradition
BART D. EHRMAN
Yale
UNIVERSITY PRESS
New Haven and London
Published with assistance from the Louis Stern Memorial Fund.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Radd
Who shares my name, my birthday, and my love of antiquity
Contents
Acknowledgments
INTRODUCTION: The Well-Trodden Paths
1. The Realities of Death and the Meaning of Life I: Journeys to
Hades in Homer and Virgil
2. The Realities of Death and the Meaning of Life II: Jewish and
Christian Journeys
3. Incentives from the World Beyond: Christian Ethics and
Evangelism
4. The Afterlife of Afterlives: Editorial Interventions and Christology
5. The Justice and Mercy of God in Textual Conflict
6. The Power of Christ and the Harrowing of Hell
AFTERWORD
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments
Final Encounters
Odysseus encounters seven other individuals before leaving Hades,
six of whom do not say a word to him. First he sees one other
former colleague from the war, Ajax, who had committed suicide in
anger when Odysseus was awarded Achilles’ arms after the great
warrior’s death. Ajax harbors his resentment and refuses to answer
Odysseus when addressed (11.541–67). Also silent is Orion, seen a
bit later, herding a group of wild beasts he had killed in life (11.572–
75). Odysseus then sees Minos, who, in a role that became
traditional, was “rendering judgments for the dead” (θεμιστεύοντα
νέκυσσιν; 11.569) as they came to him pleading their cases (δίκας
εἴροντο; 11.570). It is hard to know exactly what this means, but it
appears to suggest that not all shades are treated equally, at least
when it comes to justice. Still, justice for what? Conceivably for what
had happened while they were still living, but more likely for slights
they received once dead. However one construes the matter, the
idea of differentiated treatment does not seem consistent with the
rest of the account.
A more obvious incongruity, frequently noted, comes next:
Odysseus sees three people being tortured. The giant Tityos is
stretched over nine plethora (about three hundred yards), helpless
to defend himself from two vultures devouring his liver. His sin is
specified: he had tried to rape Leto, the lover of Zeus. Tantalus
stands in a pool up to his chin, perpetually taunted, in thirst and
hunger. Whenever he stoops to drink, the water recedes from his
reach; above him are trees with luscious fruits within his grasp, but
whenever he stretches out his hand, the wind blows them away.
Sisyphus is perpetually rolling a huge stone up a hill to move it over
the crest; but as soon as he reaches the top, its weight turns it back
and it rolls to the bottom. So he begins again (11.576–600).31
Why these three sinners, in particular? Numerous interpretations
have appeared over the years, principally based on later myths
describing their heinous activities and respective punishments. Often
it is said that these three were especially vile offenders against the
gods. That may be so (the text gives no indication), but it bears
emphasizing that nothing suggests they represent types of humans
to be perpetually tormented. They are three exceptions.32 They do
show, however, that Homer knew of traditions involving
differentiated afterlives in which some have it much worse than
others, as also suggested in other places in his epics.33
Odysseus’s final encounter involves one other exception to the
rules of eternity—the demigod Heracles. Either because of his divine
lineage as the offspring of Zeus or in reward for his heroic deeds,
Heracles has a double life, or at least a simultaneous existence in
both life and death. Odysseus explains that when he encountered
Heracles, he actually saw his image (εἴδωλον). Heracles “himself”
(αὐτός) was enjoying (τέρπεται, again) a feast among the immortal
gods, married to Hebe, daughter of Zeus and Hera (11.601–4). And
so Heracles’ shade is with the other mortals in Hades while his real
self is reveling up in heaven, able to enjoy himself outside the
realms Tiresias had called “joyless.”
Yet even just Heracles’ image is a mighty presence in the world
below: the other shades flee that presence in terror of his menacing
arrow. When he addresses Odysseus, it is only to comment on the
similarities between them, pointing out that they both suffered
immeasurably in the world above and, while living, came down to
Hades. After recounting his own heroic deeds in the world below,
Heracles breaks off without expecting a reply.34
Odysseus ends his tale by indicating he had hoped to see some
others in the world below, but he fled in terror at the thought that
worse could come, that Persephone might send out the head of the
Gorgon. He escaped to his ship and with his crew embarked across
the river Oceanus to return to the world of the living.
Conclusion
The broader lessons of Homer’s katabasis are clear. Most important:
the nature of death puts into perspective the value of life. The world
of mortals may be hard and full of suffering; but whether it is the
constant dangers confronted by heroes desperately trying to return
home or the daily grind of field hands enduring a life of poverty, the
suffering of the present cannot be compared to the perpetual
banality of what lies ahead. The miserable existence of the living, on
any terms, is better than anything on offer in the realms of the
dead, where there is literally nothing to live for, since no one is alive.
Existence there is a mere shadow. There are no pleasures to
appreciate, no goals to achieve, no strength to enjoy, no memories
to relish, and no future to anticipate. It is a life of flitting shadows.
In the moving words of Erwin Rohde from more than a century ago,
in the Homeric picture, “Nothing is so hateful to man as death and
the gates of Hades: for when death comes it is certain that life—this
sweet life of ours in the sunlight—is done with.”35
Within the broader narrative of the epic, Odysseus’s journey to
Hades thoroughly validates his single-minded desire to return home.
Glory and renown are indeed worth striving for, but they pale in
comparison with the fact of life itself. Homer does not overly
sentimentalize the view. Not every homecoming goes well, as
Agamemnon so pathetically explains. But on balance, the greatest
good is life at home among property and loved ones. Even if that is
not a reality everyone can enjoy, no one should abandon life before
absolutely necessary, since after life is only death.