The Omnipresent Fear of Death

Visit to shop from Bart Ehrman’s online courses and get a special discount by using code: MJPODCAST on all courses. 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. 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?