The Omnipresent Fear of Death

Episode Outline:
0:00 How did fear of death shape early Christianity?
0:51 Bart and Megan on aging, sleepless nights, and children’s winter illnesses
3:41 How far back can we trace the fear of death in human culture?
5:26 Greek and Jewish views of death around the time of early Christianity
7:45 What the Hebrew Bible says about death and the afterlife
10:07 How Greek thinkers tried to deal with the fear of death
12:23 How Jewish apocalyptic thought answered the problem of death
14:37 Did early Christians keep the Jewish idea of bodily resurrection?
16:37 Was resurrection originally for everyone, or only for Jesus’ followers?
18:05 Is Daniel the starting point for later heaven and hell ideas?
19:56 When did spiritual afterlife begin to overtake bodily resurrection in Christianity?
23:17 Did heaven and hell make Christianity attractive to non-Christians?
26:22 How fear of death and Christian afterlife beliefs changed over time
31:13 Weekly Update: Bart’s research on Jesus’ ethics and radical teachings
33:36 Listener Q&A: Aramaic sayings, non-canonical gospels, gospel synopses, and archaeology resources
45:30 Final summary: fear of death, resurrection, and the rise of Christian afterlife doctrine

Episode Description
As far back as we have literary reports -- beginning with the Epic of Gilgamesh, our earliest surviving narrative, written centuries before the oldest accounts of the Bible -- humans have feared death more than almost anything. Many people fear the process of dying; others fear facing eternal torment; yet others fear the void, the idea of non-existence. In this episode we talk about ancient reflections on death and about why some stalwart souls insisted that in fact there was nothing to fear.

Also watch these episodes:
Why isn't Christianity a Doomsday Cult?
Why isn't Christianity a Doomsday Cult?

Christianity One Year After Jesus
Christianity One Year After Jesus

The Coming Apocalypse! Jewish and Christian Views of the End of the World
The Coming Apocalypse! Jewish and Christian Views of the End of the World

This week Megan asks Bart--

-How far back can we trace the fear of death in human culture?

-What about Greek and Jewish culture? Was there anything to fear about the afterlife?

-The ancient afterlife sounds like a pretty grim place, regardless of what gods you followed! Does the Bible speak at all about a fear of death?

-Christian tradition was obviously influenced by the cultures around it, particularly Greek and Israelite culture - how did ancient Greek and Jewish thinkers try to deal with the fear of death?

-What would early Christians have believed about life after death?

-Do the earliest Christians seem to have the idea of an e-clusive resurrection, one just for followers of Jesus?

-Is the book of Daniel the original source for our modern understanding of heaven and hell?

-When did the idea of a spiritual resurrection start to take over from the bodily resurrection?

-When you start to get this idea of spiritual resurrection, would the idea of heaven have presented an attractive option to non-Christians, especially in contrast to their own afterlife?

-Did this role change substantially over time?