REL-1010 Chapter Notes - Chapter 13: Axial Age, Zoroastrianism
19 Aug 2017
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Chapter 13: worlds to come: religious eschatology and the afterlife. How important is afterlife: ancient cultures all have different ideas of life after death. Egyptians believe in postmortem states, though at first they regarded immortality. They believed that the deceased had to pass through various tests to get to their reward. In hebrew scriptures, the deceased are simply gone, or have been sentenced to the underworld: the celts believed in a beautiful and enchanted fairyland that was preserved in countless legends. This realm was accessible through holy wells, caves, and the barrow- like tombs of the dead. The celtic other world was also to be found in the land of immortals, and could be dictated as the underworld as well. Now or later: the great religions of the axial age were likewise to share in the growing ancient emphasis on the afterlife as important and available to everyone.
