Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Bart Ehrman’s latest book is not a scholarly treatment of the history of concepts of the afterlife. Instead it’s a popular account of the history of the relatively simplistic account of the afterlife the author believes to be held by many Americans. Beginning with the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh then quickly turning to the Greeks he discusses Homer, Plato and a scattering of other authors but reveals nothing that isn’t obvious on a first reading of these texts. The surprisingly differing accounts held by the ancients, advertised by the publisher, turns out to be merely that Homer and Plato did not share the same ideas. Thus Ehrman surveys the Romans only to find, “Gasp!”, that different Romans from different centuries also had different beliefs. Ditto for the Old Testament. There is no effort to try to achieve a kind of synthesis. There is no examination of Eastern cultures’ ideas of an afterlife. There is no summary of what archaeology can tell us of prehistoric notions. Instead you get a summary of the ideas that Ehrman believes are at the root of modern Christian beliefs. A lot of the book is then devoted to Ehrman’s personal theory that Jesus Christ and St. Paul believed in the annihilation instead of the eternal punishment of wicked souls. It’s rather idiosyncratic and based on a host of assumptions. To be honest, I don’t see why he occupies a great part of the book dwelling on this point unless it is to shake readers from the idea that there is a consistent Christian teaching on heaven and hell. I can’t really think of a group who should read this. It’s written for a popular audience, since no scholar needs to be told that there are many accounts of the afterlife in Ancient Greece, but is mostly devoted to one scholar’s particular theory. In short, it’s caught in a kind of limbo between scholarship and popularization that should satisfy no one.