History of Heaven
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A01=Jeffrey Burton Russell
Allegory
Angel
Apophatic theology
Author_Jeffrey Burton Russell
Beatific vision
Blessing
Book of Revelation
Cardinal virtues
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Christian mortalism
Christian tradition
Christianity
Church Fathers
Clement of Alexandria
Communion of saints
Consummation
Dionysus
Divine Comedy
Divine grace
Divine light
Divine soul
Divine Spark
Divinity
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Eternal God
Eternal life (Christianity)
Eucharist
God
God's Grace
Heaven (Christianity)
Heavenly host
Image of God
Immanence
Incarnation (Christianity)
Jews
Judaism
Kingship and kingdom of God
Lactantius
Millennialism
New Jerusalem
New Testament
Omnipotence
Ontology
Ophanim
Otherworld
Pantheism
Particular judgment
Personal god
Poetry
Praeparatio evangelica
Predestination
Preface (liturgy)
Pseudepigrapha
Queen of Heaven
Religion
Resurrection
Resurrection of the dead
Salvation History
Sheol
Soul and Body
Special revelation
Spiritual body
Spirituality
Tertullian
The Christian Community
The Earthly Paradise
The Mind of God
Theology
Theophany
Theosis (Eastern Orthodox theology)
Third Heaven
Union with Christ
Virtuous pagan
Product details
- ISBN 9780691006840
- Weight: 369g
- Dimensions: 152 x 235mm
- Publication Date: 03 Jan 1999
- Publisher: Princeton University Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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Well-known for his historical accounts of Satan and hell, Jeffrey Burton Russell here explores the brighter side of eternity: heaven. Dispensing with the cliche images of goodness that can make even heaven seem unbearable, the author stimulates our imagination with a history of how the joy of paradise has been conceived by writers, philosophers, and artists for whom heaven was an imminent reality. Russell not only explores concepts found among the ancient Jews, Greeks, and Romans as well as early and medieval Christians, but also addresses the intellectual problems heaven poses: how does time "pass" in eternity? is heaven a place or a state? who is in and who is not? what happens to the body and soul between death and Judgment Day? Russell stresses that the best way to approach the logic-defying concept of a place occupying neither space nor time is through poetry and paradox, and through the visions of such mystics as Bernard, Julian of Norwich, and Eckhart. After the Revelation of Saint John the Divine, the most sublime and encompassing portrait of heaven to date has come not from a theologian but from a poet--Dante Alighieri in his Divine Comedy.
Russell's history of heaven culminates in a lively analysis of how Dante described the glories of the indescribable. The unsurpassed images of light, movement, and community that Dante uses so skillfully to convey the presence of God are rooted in the Jewish picture of heaven as a garden or court and in the Greek picture of the Elysian Fields. Using current scholarly insights together with a vast store of knowledge gathered from the past, Russell takes the idea of heaven as valid and important in itself--something to be understood from the point of view of those believing in it. His very use of language immerses us in the thoughts of those who have sought heaven and provides rich material for contemplation.
Jeffrey Burton Russell is Professor of History and Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the author of fifteen previous books, including most recently Mephistopheles: The Devil in the Modern World, The Prince of Darkness, A History of Witchcraft: Sorcerers, Heretics, Pagans, and Inventing the Flat Earth: Columbus and Modern Historians.
