Tales of Lights and Shadows: Mythology of the Afterlife

Description

Tales of Lights and Shadows offers a fresh approach to the traditional mythology and literature of the afterlife, centering on tensions and polarities in the afterlife concepts: bright vs. dismal, heaven vs. reincarnation, theocentric vs. anthropocentric heaven, etc. Presenting examples from virtually all the world's religious cultures past and present, this fascinating book puts the concepts clearly in the context of the worldview and social issues of that society. Robert Ellwood depicts the many rich mythologies of the afterlife from the ancient Mesopotamians, Japanese, Greeks of the Homeric era, to Christian views of heaven or the Buddhist western paradise. He explores views of the concept of reincarnation as well as the arduous preparation for the afterlife that must be taken in some traditions. Ellwood concludes by looking at the way varying views of the afterlife influence religious and even secular culture, and how in turn culture can influence the popular heavens and hells of the time and place.

Robert Ellwood was Professor of Religion at the University of Southern California from 1967 until his retirement in 1997. He is author or editor of over 25 books, including textbooks in world religions and religious studies, histories, and works on spirituality.

Ellwood, a well-known and widely published scholar of comparative religions, investigates myths about the afterlife in ancient Mesopotamia, Japan, Greece (Homeric era), Christianity, and Buddhism... Along the way, Ellwood provides readers with needed conceptual information... Ellwood manages this feat with a comprehensible style and vocabulary that allows even readers with no background to absorb the essence of these issues from Ellwood... mastery of the field. Highly recommended. -- CHOICE This book is a wonderful read. Essentially a survey work which acquaints readers with most of the afterlife myths of the world's major religions, it offers itself as a basic introductory primer. The author should be well known to religious studies readers as someone who has been a prolific academic writer in the field for over 35 years. The book is written with a sure hand- both in terms of content as well as writing style. -- Journal of Contemporary Religion, Vol. 27, No. 1