Summary of Bart D. Ehrman's Journeys to Heaven and Hell

Everest Media

Description

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.
Sample Book Insights:
#1 The Odyssey is an epic about the return home, nostos, of Odysseus, the king of Ithaca. It is narrated in the first person by Odysseus, and it describes his various traumas and narrow escapes from characters such as the Lotus-Eaters, the Cyclops, and Circe.
#2 The nekuia is the name given to Odyssey 11, which describes Odysseus’s journey to Hades. It is not a necromancy-like act, but a trip to the land of the dead.
#3 The term nekuia is traditionally used to describe the journey that Odysseus takes to the underworld in Odyssey 11. However, the broader phenomenon of katabasis, or going down, is what we should be referring to.
#4 The nekuia is the central and turning point of the Odyssey. It is a place of complete darkness, where Odysseus travels to meet with the dead and receive a prophecy about what will happen once he returns home.

Sujets

• Religion
• Christianisme
• Christian Theology
• Philosophie et théologie
• Eschatology

Informations

• Publié par: Everest Media LLC
• Date de parution: 18 juillet 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9798822543997
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Insights on Bart D. Ehrman's Journeys to Heaven and Hell
Contents Insights from Chapter 1 Insights from Chapter 2 Insights from Chapter 3 Insights from Chapter 4 Insights from Chapter 5 Insights from Chapter 6
Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The Odyssey is an epic about the return home, nostos, of Odysseus, the king of Ithaca. It is narrated in the first person by Odysseus, and it describes his various traumas and narrow escapes from characters such as the Lotus-Eaters, the Cyclops, and Circe.

#2

The nekuia is the name given to Odyssey 11, which describes Odysseus’s journey to Hades. It is not a necromancy-like act, but a trip to the land of the dead.

#3

The term nekuia is traditionally used to describe the journey that Odysseus takes to the underworld in Odyssey 11. However, the broader phenomenon of katabasis, or going down, is what we should be referring to.

#4

The nekuia is the central and turning point of the Odyssey. It is a place of complete darkness, where Odysseus travels to meet with the dead and receive a prophecy about what will happen once he returns home.

#5

In Book 11, Odysseus travels to a land where there is no light, and he must perform the prescribed rites to enter Hades. The blood that is shed into the pit will temporarily restore the powers of recollection and speech for the shades that arise from it.

#6

The trip to Hades was a narrative ploy to meet others and learn from them what life is like there. The most important of these meetings was with his mother, Anticleia.

#7

The reunion between Odysseus and his mother is one of the most famous scenes in Greek literature. It is gut-wrenching to read, because it shows how little consolatory joy there is in the land of the dead.

#8

After death, there is no life. The body is gone, and the soul flies off, fluttering like a dream. The shades are not physical entities; they can feel no physical pain, pleasure, or joy. They are powerless and witless.

#9

The story of Agamemnon and Odysseus illustrates the differences between the power and renown of the once-mighty Agamemnon and the pathetic state he is in now and forever. It is all the same for everyone, ruler or peasant, valiant or cowardly, rich or impoverished, powerful or decrepit.

#10

The conflict between the Iliad and the Odyssey is clear throughout the entire Odyssey. It is the Iliad versus the Odyssey, and it threatens the entire epic tradition. Does the reality of death undermine the traditional epic ideal of renown above all else.

#11

Odysseus knew nothing about the dead before he arrived in Hades, but he still tried to flatter Achilles by saying that he was the greatest among them. But he was actually insulting him, because he knew that he was a strong, vibrant man while Achilles was a pathetic shadow of a man.

#12

The passage with Achilles and Odysseus in Hades shows that kleos is the dominant virtue, but it also proves that death is more valuable than kleos. Life is far more valuable than renown in death.

#13

Odysseus encounters seven other individuals while he is in Hades, all of whom do not speak to him. He sees three people being tortured, and one who has a double life, enjoying himself in heaven while his shade is with the other mortals in Hades.

#14

The story of Odysseus and the afterlife is a prime example of the similarities between the world above and the world below. Both were ruled by gods, and both were full of suffering. Odysseus escaped to his ship and returned to the world of the living.

#15

The katabasis is a journey to the afterlife, and it completely validates the importance of life. The world of mortals may be hard and full of suffering, but it is still better than anything that lies ahead.

#16

The Aeneid has a dark and ominous side that casts the Roman achievement into doubt. The most important feature of human existence is the civilizing influence of the greatest empire the world has ever seen.

#17

Virgil’s account of the afterlife is heavily influenced by Greek thought, and he employs many Stoic and Epicurean ideas and terms. However, his underworld has no unified conception.

#18

The book’s final form is a patchwork of material that was originally separated by source theories that explained the book’s inconsistencies. Today, the Virgilian redaction is more widely respected as a unit.

#19

Aeneas’s father, Anchises, had been sent by Jupiter to instruct his son to go to the houses of Dis to meet with him. When Aeneas and his men landed on Italian soil at Cumae, he immediately ascended the heights to seek the Sibyl in the awesome citadel of Apollo.

#20

Aeneas’s journey to the underworld is vastly different from that in Homer. In fact, it involves a descent. The halls of Dis are not located in the far west, but down below.

#21

Aeneas meets the Sibyl, who tells him about the souls that are not allowed to travel to the afterlife. These are the helpless and unburied, who must wait for their bones to be buried before they can cross the river.

#22

Aeneas’s first encounters in the underworld are not heartening. He and the Sibyl first come to a region that houses various kinds of untimely dead. The most pathetic are the suicides, who, though innocent, despised the light of the world above and flung away their lives.

#23

Aeneas travels to the underworld and encounters many people he knew in life, who are all miserable and have no happy times or rewards for their heroism.

#24

Aeneas comes to a place where the road splits, leading to Elysium, the place of eternal happiness, and Tartarus, the place of eternal punishment. He is not allowed to visit the latter. The Sibyl informs him that only those who will never emerge again are allowed into Tartarus.

#25

In contrast to the nekuia, which is everlasting torture for those who directly affront the gods, there are also ethical infractions that result in punishment. The Sibyl lists a number of these, and explains that she could name far more heinous sins and countless horrible punishments.

#26

Aeneas and his companion arrive at Elysium, the realm of the blessed, which is a peaceful and joyous place. However, it is a place of ample light, with its own sun and stars, unlike the impenetrable darkness of Homer’s Hades.

#27

The underworld is a place of suffering and purging, just like the world above. Aeneas’s father, Anchises, is preparing to watch the souls in Elysium return to the light, but he is also watching Aeneas, who he loves very much, suffer.

#28

Aeneas’s father, Anchises, tells him that the souls in the valley are those who have been sentenced to spend eternity in the river Lethe, which takes away their cares and memories. He explains that they will forget about their lives below before ascending to the afterlife.

#29

The myth explains that the human spirit and the body that defiles it are separate.