Resource Discussion: The Palgrave Handbook of the Afterlife

[greyhound]

I just started reading this book and I invite anyone else who is interested to join me and discuss it on this thread.

It's quite expensive but a pdf version can be accessed free here: http://library.lol/main/1B8D1FD918E0FA6D3BD4898BCF986FBB

Everyone's financial situation is different but if you get something out of it I encourage you to buy it to support the authors.

It's academically oriented, so it doesn't presuppose the existence of an afterlife. So belief or disbelief wouldn't necessarily affect whether someone gets something out of it. It could be read as something to support belief, or simply something educational about the beliefs of different groups of people over the ages. It even has a chapter discussing the modern simulation ideas of a digital afterlife. I imagine this subject is something that may be on the minds of many here, it certainly is for me. I may not be around much longer but I would hope that the discussion would outlive me.

Here's the table of contents:
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1 Introduction 1
Part I The History of the Afterlife

2 The Afterlife in Early Civilizations 21
3 Classical Mediterranean Conceptions of the Afterlife 41

Part II The Afterlife in World Religions

4 Hinduism 61
5 Buddhism 85
6 Judaism 107
7 Christianity 129
8 Islam 153

Part III Models of the Afterlife
9 Heaven 177
10 Divine Love and Hell 197
11 Purgatory 215
12 Rebirth 235
13 Digital Afterlives 255

Part IV The Metaphysics of the Afterlife

14 Substance Dualism 277
15 Emergent Dualism 297
16 Resurrecting Material Persons 315

Part V The Meaning of the Afterlife

17 The Fear of Death 333
18 Meaning in Life 353
19 The Problem of Evil 371
20 Practical Identity 391

Part VI The Science of the Afterlife

21 Do Near-Death Experiences Provide Evidence of an Afterlife? 415
22 How Psychological Dispositions Influence the Theology of the Afterlife 435

Index 455

The Palgrave Handbook of the Afterlife | Yujin Nagasawa | Palgrave Macmillan

This unique Handbook provides a sophisticated, scholarly overview of the most advanced thought regarding the idea of life after death. Its comprehensive coverage encompasses historical, religious, philosophical and scientific thinking.Starting with an overview of ancient thought on the...

www.palgrave.com

 

[greyhound]

In the very first section of the book I found it interesting that the ancient Egyptian conception of the afterlife contained both the potential for non-existence and continued existence. This is something I find comes up a lot in threads talking about the afterlife on here. Many weary individuals don't want religious beliefs to be true because they don't want to continue being conscious after they die. I always sort of assumed afterlife meant continued conscious existence in some form. But at the very outset of the book it seems there was a conception of the afterlife where you could either continue existing or be annihilated as it were.

"In summary, the Egyptian deceased underwent multiple experiences, including leaving the body in spiritual form and journeying to afterlife realms associated with creation and rebirth, entering darkness and emerging into light via descent into and ascent from the Duat, encounters with/transformations into divine beings, barriers and water crossings, meeting deceased ancestors, judgment based on a review one's earthly conduct, perils, and a cyclical existence through the sky and Duat. While the choice of fates was generally between non-existence (annihilation) and divine existence, it seems that some individuals had more servile roles, tending fields or bringing water to the gods or akhs."

 

[Shu]

Thanks for sharing!