Heaven and Hell: A History of the Afterlife

Where did the ideas of heaven and hell come from?

'An engaging but expert guide.' THE TIMES

As strange as it may seem to us now, there was a time when no one thought they would go to heaven or hell after they died. In fact, there is no mention of them in the Old Testament, and Jesus did not believe the souls of the departed were bound for either realm.

In this gripping history of the afterlife, Bart Ehrman reveals how the concepts of heaven and hell developed and took hold, and why they endure to this day. He examines the social, cultural and historical roots of competing views held by Greeks, Jews and Christians, and traces how beliefs changed over time. Ultimately, he shows that many of our ideas about heaven and hell emerged long after Jesus’s time, through the struggle to explain the injustices of the world.

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'There’s no one I’d rather read on what Christians believe, and why they believe it, than Bart Ehrman.' TOM BISSELL, AUTHOR OF APOSTLE

'An impressively readable, clear and wide-ranging study.' SPECTATOR

'This elegant history explores the evolution of the concept of the afterlife in Western thought... presented with engaging clarity.' THE NEW YORKER