ABSTRACT
Beliefs in forms of postmortem survival, immortality of the soul, reincarnation, and other forms of transformation from this life to the next circulated in late antiquity and came to diversity of expression, even within a given religious system (Davis 1997). The idea of resurrection, whereby the dead are restored to life (and by this is meant a life superior to the previous life and almost always understood as everlasting life), appears to be distinctive of early Judaism and Christianity. Approximate parallels have been put forward, but on closer examination they really are not the same. Many Jews in late antiquity came to believe in resurrection, though others believed only in the immortality of the soul, while yet others believed that physical death terminates the human being. These perspectives will be surveyed in what follows. The Christian perspective on resurrection will be shown to be different from Jewish ideas, in that the Christian understanding relies less on speculation and biblical interpretation but more on the dramatic event of the resurrection of Jesus. Thus, the Christian doctrine of resurrection has a distinctly historical orientation.
