Fate of the Dead

This text presents a collection of studies which focus on personal eschatology in the Jewish and early Christian apocalypses. The apocalyptic tradition, from its Jewish origins until the early Middle Ages, is studied as a continuous literary tradition, in which both continuity of motifs and important changes in understanding of life after death can be charted. As well as better-known apocalypses, much attention is given to those neglected apocalypses which portray human destiny after death in detail, such as the "Apocalypse of Peter," the "Apocalypse of the Seven Heavens," the later apocalypses of Ezra, and the four apocalypses of the Virgin Mary. Relationships with Greco-Roman eschatology are explored, and several chapters show how specific New Testament texts are illuminated by close knowledge of this tradition of ideas and images of the hereafter.

Acest text prezinta o colectie de studii care se concentreaza pe escatologia personala in apocalipsele evreiesti si crestine timpurii. Traditia apocaliptica, de la originile sale evreiesti pana in Evul Mediu timpuriu, este studiata ca o traditie literara continua, in care pot fi trasate atat continuitatea motivelor, cat si schimbari importante in intelegerea vietii dupa moarte.