Heaven and Hell
A History of the Afterlife
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Narrated by:
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John Bedford Lloyd
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Bart D. Ehrman - preface
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By:
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Bart D. Ehrman
About this listen
A New York Times best-selling historian of early Christianity takes on two of the most gripping questions of human existence: Where did the ideas of heaven and hell come from, and why do they endure?
What happens when we die? A recent Pew Research poll showed that 72 percent of Americans believe in a literal heaven and 58 percent believe in a literal hell. Most people who hold these beliefs are Christian and assume they are the age-old teachings of the Bible. But eternal rewards and punishments are found nowhere in the Old Testament and are not what Jesus or his disciples taught.
So where did these ideas come from?
In this “eloquent understanding of how death is viewed through many spiritual traditions” (Publishers Weekly, starred review), Bart Ehrman recounts the long history of the afterlife, ranging from The Epic of Gilgamesh up to the writings of Augustine, focusing especially on the teachings of Jesus and his early followers. He discusses ancient guided tours of heaven and hell, in which a living person observes the sublime blessings of heaven for those who are saved and the horrifying torments of hell for those who are damned. Some of these accounts take the form of near death experiences, the oldest on record, with intriguing similarities to those reported today.
One of Ehrman’s startling conclusions is that there never was a single Greek, Jewish, or Christian understanding of the afterlife, but numerous competing views. Moreover, these views did not come from nowhere; they were intimately connected with the social, cultural, and historical worlds out of which they emerged. Only later, in the early Christian centuries, did they develop into notions of eternal bliss or damnation widely accepted today.
In this “elegant history” (The New Yorker), Ehrman helps us reflect on where our ideas of the afterlife come from. With his “richly layered-narrative” (The Boston Globe) he assures us that even if there may be something to hope for when we die, there certainly is nothing to fear.
©2020 Bart D. Ehrman (P)2020 Simon & Schuster AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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- The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee
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- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 10 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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In a book that took eight years to research and write, leading Bible scholar Bart D. Ehrman explores how an apocalyptic prophet from the backwaters of rural Galilee crucified for crimes against the state came to be thought of as equal with the one God Almighty Creator of all things. Ehrman sketches Jesus's transformation from a human prophet to the Son of God exalted to divine status at his resurrection. Only when some of Jesus's followers had visions of him after his death - alive again - did anyone come to think that he, the prophet from Galilee, had become God.
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Wishing for a bit more meat on the bones
- By Darwin8u on 04-09-14
By: Bart D. Ehrman
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Surprised by Hope
- Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church
- By: N. T. Wright
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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For years, Christians have been asking, "If you died tonight, do you know where you would go?" It turns out that many believers have been giving the wrong answer. It is not heaven. Wright outlines the present confusion about a Christian's future hope and shows how it is deeply intertwined with how we live today. Wright asserts that Christianity's most distinctive idea is bodily resurrection, and provides a magisterial defense for a literal resurrection of Jesus. Wright then explores our expectation of "new heavens and a new earth".
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A valuable yet partial lens for viewing mission
- By Scott Macdonald on 01-16-19
By: N. T. Wright
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The Day the Revolution Began
- Reconsidering the Meaning of Jesus's Crucifixion
- By: N. T. Wright
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 15 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Day the Revolution Began, N. T. Wright once again challenges commonly held Christian beliefs, as he did in Surprised by Hope. Demonstrating the rigorous intellect and breathtaking knowledge that have long defined his work, Wright argues that Jesus' death on the cross was not only to absolve us of our sins, it was actually the beginning of a revolution commissioning the Christian faithful to a new vocation - a royal priesthood responsible for restoring and reconciling all of God's creation.
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Standard Wright, both the strengths and weaknesses
- By Adam Shields on 12-12-16
By: N. T. Wright
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Desire of the Everlasting Hills
- The World Before and After Jesus
- By: Thomas Cahill
- Narrated by: Brian F. O'Byrne
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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In his subtle and engaging investigation into the life and times of Jesus, Thomas Cahill shows us Jesus from his birth to his execution through the eyes of those who knew him and in the context of his time—a time when the Jews were struggling to maintain their beliefs under overlords who imposed their worldview on their subjects. Here is Jesus the loving friend, itinerate preacher, and quiet revolutionary, whose words and actions inspired his followers to journey throughout the Roman world and speak the truth he instilled.
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Desire Delivers
- By David on 04-18-03
By: Thomas Cahill
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Paul and Jesus
- How the Apostle Transformed Christianity
- By: James D. Tabor
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Historians know virtually nothing about the two decades following the crucifixion of Jesus, when his followers regrouped and began to spread his message. During this time the man we know as the apostle Paul joined the movement and began to preach to the gentiles. Using the oldest Christian documents that we have - the letters of Paul - as well as other early Christian sources, historian and scholar James Tabor reconstructs the origins of Christianity.
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Paul or Jesus?
- By James on 01-29-13
By: James D. Tabor
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God and Empire
- Jesus Against Rome, Then and Now
- By: John Dominic Crossan
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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In contrast to the oppressive Roman military occupation of the first century, Crossan examines the meaning of the non-violent Kingdom of God prophesized by Jesus and the equality advocated by Paul to the early Christian churches. Crossan contrasts these messages of peace with the misinterpreted apocalyptic vision from the Book of Revelation, which has been misrepresented by modern right-wing theologians and televangelists to justify US military actions in the Middle East.
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Smart Book
- By Wesley Bishop on 07-01-22
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Understanding the Koran
- A Quick Christian Guide to the Muslim Holy Book
- By: Mateen Elass
- Narrated by: Don Reed
- Length: 5 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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A quick non-technical introduction to the Koran designed to help Christians understand a hidden book revered by 1.3 billion Muslims, covering the background on its writing, a summary of its contents, a perspective on how it’s used and viewed by Muslims, a comparison of differences and similarities to the Bible, and some suggestions on how it should and should not be used in conversations with Muslims.
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Favors Christianity
- By Dianne on 12-18-15
By: Mateen Elass
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The Great Shift
- Encountering God in Biblical Times
- By: James L. Kugel
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 15 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Why does the Bible depict a world in which humans, with surprising regularity, encounter the divine - wrestling an angel, addressing a burning bush, issuing forth prophecy without any choice in the matter? These stories spoke very differently to their original audience than they do to us, and they reflect a radically distinct understanding of reality and the human mind. Yet over the course of the thousand-year biblical era, encounters with God changed dramatically.
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Changing Conceptions of God and the Self
- By DJ on 10-27-22
By: James L. Kugel
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The Fourth Gospel
- Tales of a Jewish Mystic
- By: John Shelby Spong
- Narrated by: Al Kessel
- Length: 11 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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John Shelby Spong, best-selling author and popular proponent of a modern, scholarly, and authentic Christianity, argues that this last gospel to be written was misinterpreted by the framers of the fourth-century creeds to be a literal account of the life of Jesus when in fact it is a literary, interpretive retelling of the events in Jesus' life through the medium of fictional characters, from Nicodemus and Lazarus to the "Beloved Disciple."
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Very thought-provoking
- By Mark J Mickey on 03-18-23
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Heaven
- By: Randy Alcorn
- Narrated by: Chris Fabry
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Abridged
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What will heaven be like? Randy Alcorn presents a thoroughly biblical answer, based on years of careful study, presented in an engaging, audience-friendly style. His conclusions will surprise listeners and stretch their thinking about this important subject. Heaven will inspire listeners to long for heaven while they're living on earth.
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Finally I am eternally minded
- By Elle Bee on 09-29-15
By: Randy Alcorn
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Eucharist
- By: Robert Barron
- Narrated by: Robert Barron
- Length: 3 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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A master theologian offers inspiring insights into the mystery of Christ's presence in our lives. As festive as the film Babette's Feast and as profound as the work of Ronald Knox, this fresh look at the Eucharist brings to light the spiritual meaning of meal, sacrifice, and real presence in our lives.
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Orthodox teaching, beautifully presented
- By Echo Juliet on 12-29-11
By: Robert Barron
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God in the Qur'an
- God in Three Classic Scriptures
- By: Jack Miles
- Narrated by: Peter Altschuler
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Who is Allah? What does he ask of those who submit to his teachings? Pulitzer Prize-winner Jack Miles gives us a deeply probing, revelatory portrait of the world’s second largest, fastest-growing, and perhaps most tragically misunderstood religion. In doing so, Miles illuminates what is unique about Allah, his teachings, and his resolutely merciful temperament, and he thereby reveals that which is false, distorted, or simply absent from the popular conception of the heart of Islam.
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Comparison between the Holy Bible and Holy Qur'an
- By Recession Proof Holdings. L.L.C. (RPH) on 12-29-18
By: Jack Miles
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From classics such as the Odyssey and the Aeneid to fifth-century Christian apocrypha, narratives that described guided tours of the afterlife played a major role in shaping ancient notions of morality and ethics. In this new account, acclaimed author Bart Ehrman contextualizes early Christian narratives of heaven and hell within the broader intellectual and cultural worlds from which they emerged.
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Armageddon
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In Armageddon, acclaimed New Testament authority Bart D. Ehrman delves into the most misunderstood—and possibly the most dangerous—book of the Bible, exploring the horrifying social and political consequences of expecting an imminent apocalypse and offering a fascinating tour through three millennia of Judeo-Christian thinking about how our world will end. By turns hilarious, moving, troubling, and provocative, Armageddon presents inspiring insights into how to live our lives in the face of an uncertain future.
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The best explanation I have heard in my 70 years on Revelations
- By Ian Huntington on 05-19-23
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Jesus, Interrupted
- Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible
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Picking up where Bible expert Bart Ehrman's New York Times best seller, Misquoting Jesus, left off, Jesus, Interrupted addresses the larger issue of what the New Testament actually teaches...and it's not what most people think. This is the book that pastors, educators, and anyone interested in the Bible have been waiting for, a clear and compelling account of the central challenges we face when attempting to reconstruct the life and message of Jesus.
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Take a college course in New Testament in a book
- By R. Reed on 04-09-09
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God's Problem
- The Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question - Why We Suffer
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In times of questioning and despair, people often quote the Bible to provide answers. Surprisingly, though, the Bible does not have one answer but many "answers" that often contradict one another.
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Despite "Suffer the little children"
- By Kaeli on 05-03-08
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How Jesus Became God
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Wishing for a bit more meat on the bones
- By Darwin8u on 04-09-14
By: Bart D. Ehrman
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Forged
- Writing in the Name of God - Why the Bible's Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are
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It is often said, even by critical scholars who should know better, that “writing in the name of another” was widely accepted in antiquity. But New York Times bestselling author Bart D. Ehrman dares to call it what it was: literary forgery, a practice that was as scandalous then as itis today. In Forged, Ehrman’s fresh and original research takes readers back to the ancient world, where forgeries were used as weapons by unknown authors to fend off attacks to their faith and establish their church.
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Faith shaking
- By Fletch on 09-05-12
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Journeys to Heaven and Hell
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New Hits Here. Not Repackaged Hits.
- By Adam on 06-19-22
By: Bart D. Ehrman
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Armageddon
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- Length: 7 hrs and 57 mins
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In Armageddon, acclaimed New Testament authority Bart D. Ehrman delves into the most misunderstood—and possibly the most dangerous—book of the Bible, exploring the horrifying social and political consequences of expecting an imminent apocalypse and offering a fascinating tour through three millennia of Judeo-Christian thinking about how our world will end. By turns hilarious, moving, troubling, and provocative, Armageddon presents inspiring insights into how to live our lives in the face of an uncertain future.
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The best explanation I have heard in my 70 years on Revelations
- By Ian Huntington on 05-19-23
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Jesus, Interrupted
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Take a college course in New Testament in a book
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By: Bart D. Ehrman
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In times of questioning and despair, people often quote the Bible to provide answers. Surprisingly, though, the Bible does not have one answer but many "answers" that often contradict one another.
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Despite "Suffer the little children"
- By Kaeli on 05-03-08
By: Bart D. Ehrman
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How Jesus Became God
- The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee
- By: Bart D. Ehrman
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
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In a book that took eight years to research and write, leading Bible scholar Bart D. Ehrman explores how an apocalyptic prophet from the backwaters of rural Galilee crucified for crimes against the state came to be thought of as equal with the one God Almighty Creator of all things. Ehrman sketches Jesus's transformation from a human prophet to the Son of God exalted to divine status at his resurrection. Only when some of Jesus's followers had visions of him after his death - alive again - did anyone come to think that he, the prophet from Galilee, had become God.
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Wishing for a bit more meat on the bones
- By Darwin8u on 04-09-14
By: Bart D. Ehrman
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Forged
- Writing in the Name of God - Why the Bible's Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are
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It is often said, even by critical scholars who should know better, that “writing in the name of another” was widely accepted in antiquity. But New York Times bestselling author Bart D. Ehrman dares to call it what it was: literary forgery, a practice that was as scandalous then as itis today. In Forged, Ehrman’s fresh and original research takes readers back to the ancient world, where forgeries were used as weapons by unknown authors to fend off attacks to their faith and establish their church.
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Faith shaking
- By Fletch on 09-05-12
By: Bart D. Ehrman
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Jesus Before the Gospels
- How the Earliest Christians Remembered, Changed, and Invented Their Stories of the Savior
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Throughout much of human history, our most important stories were passed down orally - including the stories about Jesus before they became written down in the Gospels. In this fascinating and deeply researched work, leading Bible scholar Bart D. Erhman investigates the role oral history has played in the New Testament - how the telling of these stories not only spread Jesus' message but helped shape it.
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Insightful, but with limited depth
- By Jacobus on 05-28-16
By: Bart D. Ehrman
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Misquoting Jesus
- By: Bart D. Ehrman
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- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
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When world-class biblical scholar Bart Ehrman first began to study the texts of the Bible in their original languages he was startled to discover the multitude of mistakes and intentional alterations that had been made by earlier translators. In Misquoting Jesus, Ehrman tells the story behind the mistakes and changes that ancient scribes made to the New Testament and shows the great impact they had upon the Bible we use today.
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Understanding Manuscripts
- By KaHef on 11-22-06
By: Bart D. Ehrman
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Lost Christianities
- The Battles of Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew
- By: Bart D. Ehrman
- Narrated by: Matthew Kugler
- Length: 13 hrs and 25 mins
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The early Christian Church was a chaos of contending beliefs. Some groups of Christians claimed that there was not one God but two or twelve or thirty. Some believed that the world had not been created by God but by a lesser, ignorant deity. Certain sects maintained that Jesus was human but not divine, while others said he was divine but not human.
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The Early Church(es)
- By Margaret on 01-06-14
By: Bart D. Ehrman
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Peter, Paul, and Mary Magdalene
- The Followers of Jesus in History and Legend
- By: Bart D. Ehrman
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 12 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Bart Ehrman, author of the best sellers Misquoting Jesus and Truth and Fiction in The Da Vinci Code, here takes listeners on another engaging tour of the early Christian church, illuminating the lives of three of Jesus' most intriguing followers: Simon Peter, Paul of Tarsus, and Mary Magdalene.
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A re-write of "Misquoting Jesus"
- By Miguel on 09-09-08
By: Bart D. Ehrman
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The Triumph of Christianity
- How a Forbidden Religion Swept the World
- By: Bart D. Ehrman
- Narrated by: George Newbern, Bart D. Ehrman
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Christianity didn't have to become the dominant religion in the West. It easily could have remained a sect of Judaism fated to have the historical importance of the Sadducees or the Essenes. In The Triumph of Christianity, Bart Ehrman, a master explainer of Christian history, texts, and traditions, shows how a religion whose first believers were 20 or so illiterate day laborers in a remote part of the empire became the official religion of Rome, converting some 30 million people in just four centuries.
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Another Piece of the Jesus Puzzle
- By A Mom on 04-13-18
By: Bart D. Ehrman
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The New Testament
- By: Bart D. Ehrman, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Bart D. Ehrman
- Length: 12 hrs and 27 mins
- Original Recording
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Whether taken as a book of faith or a cultural artifact, the New Testament is among the most significant writings the world has ever known, its web of meaning relied upon by virtually every major writer in the last 2,000 years. Yet the New Testament is not only one of Western civilization’s most believed books, but also one of its most widely disputed, often maligned, and least clearly understood, with a vast number of people unaware of how it was written and transmitted.
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If you want a balanced overview this is not it
- By Amazon Customer on 02-27-16
By: Bart D. Ehrman, and others
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Lost Scriptures
- Books that Did Not Make It into the New Testament
- By: Bart D. Ehrman
- Narrated by: James Clement
- Length: 18 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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While most people think that the 27 books of the New Testament are the only sacred writings of the early Christians, this is not at all the case. A companion volume to Bart Ehrman's Lost Christianities, this book offers an anthology of up-to-date and easy-listening translations of many noncanonical writings from the first centuries after Christ - texts that have been for the most part lost or neglected for almost two millennia.
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Great book destroyed by horrific narration.
- By Stephen P Bielski on 05-31-21
By: Bart D. Ehrman
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Jesus
- Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium
- By: Bart D. Ehrman
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- Length: 12 hrs and 40 mins
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In this highly accessible discussion, Bart Ehrman examines the most recent textual and archaeological sources for the life of Jesus, along with the history of first-century Palestine, drawing a fascinating portrait of the man and his teachings. Ehrman shows us what historians have long known about the Gospels and the man who stands behind them. Through a careful evaluation of the New Testament (and other surviving sources, including the more recently discovered Gospels of Thomas and Peter), Ehrman proposes that Jesus can be best understood as an apocalyptic prophet.
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I must read for those whose wanting to expand their insight from a single perspective (devotional) to include historical
- By RGO on 11-25-19
By: Bart D. Ehrman
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The Lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot
- A New Look at the Betrayer and Betrayed
- By: Bart D. Ehrman
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Lost for nearly 1,700 years, newly restored and authenticated, the Gospel of Judas presents a very different view of the relationship between Jesus and Judas. Rather than paint Judas as a traitor, it portrays him as acting at Jesus' request.
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Not Another One!
- By David on 04-12-07
By: Bart D. Ehrman
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The Origin of Satan
- How Christians Demonized Jews, Pagans, and Heretics
- By: Elaine Pagels
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 8 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Who is Satan in the New Testament, and what is the evil that he represents? In this groundbreaking book, Elaine Pagels, Princeton's distinguished historian of religion, traces the evolution of Satan from its origins in the Hebrew Bible, where Satan is at first merely obstructive, to the New Testament, where Satan becomes the Prince of Darkness, the bitter enemy of God and man, evil incarnate. In The Origin of Satan, Pagels shows that the four Christian gospels tell two very different stories.
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Must read for all practicing Christians
- By Venusian Incognito on 09-06-19
By: Elaine Pagels
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God's Monsters
- Vengeful Spirits, Deadly Angels, Hybrid Creatures, and Divine Hitmen of the Bible
- By: Esther Hamori
- Narrated by: Lisa Larsen
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Traditional interpretations of the creatures of the Bible have sanded down their sharp, unsavory edges, transforming them into celestial beings of glory and light—or chubby, happy cherubs. Those cherubs? They're actually hybrid guardian monsters, more closely associated with the Egyptian sphinx than with flying babies. And the seraphim? Winged serpents sent to mete out God's vengeance. Demons aren't at war with angels; they're a distinct supernatural species used by Satan and by God. The pattern is chilling. Most of these monsters aren't God's opponents—they're God's entourage.
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Fun subject, convincingly told
- By Alexis Allen on 06-16-24
By: Esther Hamori
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Did Jesus Exist?
- The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth
- By: Bart D. Ehrman
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Large numbers of atheists, humanists, and conspiracy theorists are raising one of the most pressing questions in the history of religion: "Did Jesus exist at all?" Was he invented out of whole cloth for nefarious purposes by those seeking to control the masses? Or was Jesus such a shadowy figure - far removed from any credible historical evidence - that he bears no meaningful resemblance to the person described in the Bible?
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Vintage Ehrman
- By Jacobus on 07-17-12
By: Bart D. Ehrman
What listeners say about Heaven and Hell
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Finck Thincks
- 04-09-20
Best accessible, academic overview on the topic
By "on the topic", I mean from an historical & textual academic perspective on the early biblical Christian views on the afterlife.
Perspectives on the afterlife have been diverse and hotly debated for millennia, and pre-date the Christian biblical texts and traditions.
Even within Christianity, there has been a vast range of perspectives from the very beginning. And that diversity of beliefs and teachings has only increased as time has progressed.
Ehrman does an impressive job of condensing vast swaths of content into a digestible sized book. He provides an excellent primer on the context and development of the various historical and textual trends that highlight the breadth and range of teachings over the millennia.
Readers should be aware that this is not a theological work. And it's not intended to be a theological work. It is merely an accessible, academic overview of the historical record.
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14 people found this helpful
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- Sean Stennett
- 04-14-20
Thorough Examination of the Bible and Apocrypha
This is a very thorough examination of the after life. It examines what Jesus taught, old testament insight, the maccabees as their tortured, other apocryphal books and greek philosophies. Professor Ehrman's views are insightful and make us reexamine what the after life meant in ancient times and what it has come to mean post Jesus/The Roman Empire.
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8 people found this helpful
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- Chase
- 10-16-20
Well researched—Easy to follow
A wonderful and thought-provoking consideration of the the generally agreed upon beliefs of heaven and hell. Ehrman challenges that which many modern evangelical Christians believe about the afterlife using historical evidence. I was especially surprised to hear what the historical Jesus himself taught about the afterlife (or perhaps, more importantly, what he DIDN'T teach about the afterlife) and how it differs from what I was taught in my Protestant upbringing.
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- BigRed91
- 11-02-20
Should be required listening
Makes it possible to believe that all our fears of Hell are now fully documented, having all sprung from the minds of ordinary mortals, and not at all from any real god, just from imaginary ones.
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- Anonymous User
- 09-23-20
Familiar information with some additions
There’s some great material here, but as is the case with most Ehrman books, he has an extensive preamble that deals with historical methodology and topics dealing with the authenticity and trustworthiness of the texts. This is a frustrating retread through well-worn territory for fans of his other works. There is some new material and argumentation here, but I wish there had been much more.
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- C
- 06-12-23
well research and well explained.
This writer shares a wealth of knowledge while leaving decisions up to the listener. Well.worth the read.
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- John P.
- 05-01-20
An excellent study and overview
This book put into simple terms the evolution of the Christian theory of Heaven and Hell. Ehrman does a fantastic job taking the reader on a historical journey that illustrates how Christian ideas on the afterlife have radically changed over the past 2000 years.
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- Loud Lemur from Latveria
- 05-20-20
Bart is the best
This book is so concise in its presentation and thorough in its research. Ehrman never disappoints.
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- Robert Gardner
- 05-28-20
Eye-opening
One of the things I appreciate most about Bart Erman’s approach to writing is his evenhanded laying out of various opinions without declaring that his own opinion must be the one that is right.
It gave me an opportunity to explore different ideas about heaven, hell, and the afterlife, and everything else from a very measured standpoint so that I can make my own decision on the matter.
And, while his own argument might be persuasive to many, what matters more is that he has laid out a sweeping vista of historical development around the ideas of heaven and hell that demonstrate man to be an inventive, inquisitive, and insatiably curious creature. One who will unendingly craft, tweak, and modify their ideas in order to satisfy their desire to know.
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- Anonymous User
- 10-08-21
Excellent Read!
This book was great! Very informative, eloquently written, and overall enjoyable. I learned a lot. The narrator was great in his delivery as well. If you're a dedicated Christian listening to this, it may be uncomfortable because of the distinction between what you were taught and what this book presents.
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