Heaven
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A History
Colleen McDannell and Bernhard Lang
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Format: PaperPrice: $16.95
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What do Christians believe they will experience after a virtuous life? What will an eternity in the hereafter be like? In this copiously illustrated , lively book, Colleen McDannell and Bernhard Lang describe and interpret the ways in which believers—from biblical authors to medieval mystics, from Jesus to present-day religious thinkers —have pictured Heaven, not just in doctrine but also in poetry, art, literature, and popular culture. In so doing, they shed new light into both the private and public dimensions of western culture.
"[A] fascinating new study. . . . It is a rich and provocative subject and the authors use it as a springboard from which to examine shifting attitudes toward man and God, within the Judeo-Christian tradition."—Michiko Kakutani, New York Times
"Heaven: A History offers a whistlestop tour, thoroughly researched and engagingly written, of the extraordinary things Christians and others have believed about life after death. . . . A compendium of fascinating finds from the past."—John Barton, London Review of Books
"A substantial volume, dramatically illustrated, it tracks the main Christian concepts of Heaven as recorded by theologians, artists and visionaries through he centuries."—Naomi Lewis, The Listener
“A fascinating survey of Western culture and a delightful tour of the histories of art, literature and theology.”—Christian Century
Colleen McDannell is the Sterling McMurrin Professor of Religious Studies and Professor of History at the University of Utah. She is also the author of Material Christianity. Bernhard Lang is professor of religion at the University of Paderborn, Germany, and the author of Sacred Games: A History of Christian Worship. Both of these books are published by Yale University Press.
Publication Date: September 27, 1995
69 b/w illus.
