Table of Contents

Preface Introduction by Hiroshi Obayashi Death and Afterlife in Nonliterate and Ancient Religions Living with Spirits: Death and Afterlife in African Religions by George C. Bond The Fate of Mankind: The Problem of Death and Afterlife in Ancient Mesopotamia by Jerrold S. Cooper Taking It With You: Death and Afterlife in Ancient Egypt by William J. Murnane Death and Afterlife in Greek Tragedy and Plato by Helen F. North Death and Afterlife in Western Religions From Witchcraft to Justice: Death and Afterlife in the Old Testament by George E. Mendenhall Death and Afterlife in the New Testament by Leander E. Keck Bound Up in the Bond of Life: Death and Afterlife in Jewish Tradition by Robert Goldenberg Death and Eternal Life in Christianity by Hiroshi Obayashi "Your Sight Today Is Piercing": The Muslim Understanding of Death and Afterlife by William C. Chittick Death and Afterlife in Eastern Religions Hindu Views of Death and Afterlife by Thomas J. Hopkins Death as Threat, Death as Achievement: Buddhist Perspectives with Particular Reference to the Theravada Tradition by Frank E. Reynolds The Tibetan Tantric View of Death and Afterlife by Elisabeth Benard Death and Afterlife in Chinese Religions by Judith A. Berling Bibliography Index

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Major religious traditions of the world contain perspectives of perennial importance on the topic of death and afterlife. Here thirteen scholars, each a specialist in a particular religious tradition, outline the beliefs and practices relating to death and afterlife.

About the Author

HIROSHI OBAYASHI is Professor and former Chairman of the Department of Religion at Rutgers University, where he teaches a course on Death and Afterlife. He is the author of numerous books and articles in English and Japanese, including Ernst Troeltsch and Theology of Our Own Times and Agape and History.

Reviews

?The 13 short and necessarily selective, but nevertheless substantial chapters of this ably edited cross-cultural survey are to be recommended for being both authoritative (each contributor is an expert) and engagingly and enlighteningly written. The work is quite comprehensive, encompassing preliterate African, ancient Mediterranean, and the mainstream Western and Eastern traditions. It utilizes a variety of approaches--historical, sociological, anthropological, theological, etc. It intersects most notably with both Religious Encounters with Death, ed. by F.E. Reynolds and E.H. Waugh (CH, Apr '78) and Death, Afterlife, and the Soul, ed. by L.E. Sullivan (1989). In format, it is more akin to the former, but it differs from it in at least two main respects: (1) here the focus of each chapter is generally broader, less specialized; and (2) proportionately more attention is given to the major Western traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The new volume thus augments and complements its predecessors. Useful chapter notes, bibliography, and index. Appropriate for graduate students and upper-division undergraduates.?-Choice

"The 13 short and necessarily selective, but nevertheless substantial chapters of this ably edited cross-cultural survey are to be recommended for being both authoritative (each contributor is an expert) and engagingly and enlighteningly written. The work is quite comprehensive, encompassing preliterate African, ancient Mediterranean, and the mainstream Western and Eastern traditions. It utilizes a variety of approaches--historical, sociological, anthropological, theological, etc. It intersects most notably with both Religious Encounters with Death, ed. by F.E. Reynolds and E.H. Waugh (CH, Apr '78) and Death, Afterlife, and the Soul, ed. by L.E. Sullivan (1989). In format, it is more akin to the former, but it differs from it in at least two main respects: (1) here the focus of each chapter is generally broader, less specialized; and (2) proportionately more attention is given to the major Western traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The new volume thus augments and complements its predecessors. Useful chapter notes, bibliography, and index. Appropriate for graduate students and upper-division undergraduates."-Choice