ABSTRACT
Discussions of immortality in the Middles Ages tend to focus on the nature of the rational soul and its prospects for surviving the death of the body. The question of how medieval figures expected to experience everlasting life – what I will be calling the phenomenology of immortality – receives far less attention. Yet expectations for immortal existence speak volumes about a whole nest of important philosophical issues, including views about God, embodiment, happiness, and love. Examining medieval positions on this topic provides important insight not just into ideas about unending existence but about what it means to be human.
