Afterlife and Resurrection Beliefs in the Apocrypha and Apocalyptic Literature

by Jan A. Sigvartsen

Publisher:

Bloomsbury

, 2019

Overview

Jan A. Sigvartsen seeks to examine the immense interest in life after death, and speculation about the fates awaiting both the righteous and the wicked, that proliferated in the Second Temple period. In this volume Sigvartsen explores the Apocrypha and the apocalyptic writings in the Pseudepigrapha. He identifies the numerous afterlife and resurrection beliefs and presents an analysis that enables readers to easily understand and compare the wide-ranging beliefs regarding the afterlife that these texts hold. A careful reading of these resurrection passages, including passages appearing in Sirach, Maccabees, the Sibylline Oracles and the Ezra texts, reveals that most of the distinct views on life-after-death, regardless of their complexity, show little evidence of systematic development relational to one another, and are often supported by several key passages or shared motifs from texts that later became a part of the TaNaKh. Sigvartsen also highlights the factors that may have influenced the development of so many different resurrection beliefs; including anthropology, the nature of the soul, the scope of the resurrection, the number and function of judgments, and the final destination of the righteous and the wicked. Sigvartsen’s study provides a deeper understanding of how the “TaNaKh” was read by different communities during this important period, and the role it played in the development of the resurrection belief—a central article of faith in both Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism.

Product Details

• Title: Afterlife and Resurrection Beliefs in the Apocrypha and Apocalyptic Literature
• Author: Jan A. Sigvartsen
• Series: Jewish and Christian Texts in Contexts and Related Studies
• Volume: 29
• Publisher: Bloomsbury
• Print Publication Date: 2019
• Logos Release Date: 2019
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subjects: Apocryphal books (O.T.) › Criticism, interpretation, etc; Apocalyptic literature › History and criticism; Future life › Biblical teaching; Resurrection › Biblical teaching
• ISBNs: 9780567685513, 9780567685520, 9780567689252, 0567685519, 0567685527, 0567689255
• Resource ID: LLS:FTRLFRSRRCTNPLT
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T00:08:57Z

About Jan A. Sigvartsen

Jan A. Sigvartsen, PhD is a Dozent of Old Testament at the Theologische Hochschule Friedensau, Germany.  He undertook his PhD in Religion at Andrews University, USA and was also a Visiting Research Fellow at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.  His areas of specialization are Old Testament Exegesis and Theology, Early Judaism, and Archaeology.  He is currently associated with the Balu'a Regional Archaeological Project, one of the largest archaeological sites in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.  Prior to his appointment in Germany he taught both undergraduate and graduate levels, was a researcher, and academic editor at Andrews University. 

He is best known as the author of ExegesisPaper.com, a website which teaches students how to undertake exegesis, the primary research methodology of scholarly biblical research.  This online resource has been used by over 100,000 students from more than 180 countries.

Jan speaks English, Norwegian, and is learning German.  He was born in Norway, is a USA citizen, and has lived in England, the United States, Israel, Australia, and Germany.  He loves to travel and, given his Viking heritage, wants to build a Viking ship one day.  He lives with his Australian wife, Leanne (who is also a US and Maltese citizen), and their three young sons in the German university village of Friedensau.