Journeys to Heaven and Hell

Tours of the Afterlife in the Early Christian Tradition

By: Bart D. Ehrman

Narrated by: John Tefler

A New York Times best-selling scholar's illuminating exploration of the earliest Christian narrated journeys to heaven and hell

“[An] illuminating deep dive . . . An edifying origin story for contemporary Christian conceptions of the afterlife.”—Publishers Weekly

From classics such as the Odyssey and the Aeneid to fifth-century Christian apocrypha, narratives that described guided tours of the afterlife played a major role in shaping ancient notions of morality and ethics. In this new account, acclaimed author Bart Ehrman contextualizes early Christian narratives of heaven and hell within the broader intellectual and cultural worlds from which they emerged. He examines how fundamental social experiences of the early Christian communities molded the conceptions of the afterlife that eventuated into the accepted doctrines of heaven, hell, and purgatory.

©2022 Bart D. Ehrman (P)2022 Yale Press Audio

Remarkable Exegesis of so Many Sources

The entire work is a monument to Prof. Ehrman’s scholarship. I found the last chapters commenting on universal salvation to be extremely elucidating. I find the whole concept of a necessary salvation to be the height of human hubris and is no small reason for my abandoning the beliefs of my youth. Thank you Professor,

New Hits Here. Not Repackaged Hits.

Dr. Ehrman always presents fully researched material in an accessible and entertaining manner. That said, some of his books and even pieces in his Great Courses are repackaged. Despite the high quality, you’ve heard it before. Like a seasoned rock star phoning in an easy crowd pleaser, you can be entertained and annoyed listening to it. Not so here. Dr. Ehrman dug deep, analyzing scribal whims and cross pollination between Greek and Roman myths with the rapidly expanding early church. The only minor negatives are the narrator’s pronunciation of select words and the occasional miss of textual irony. I can tell Dr. Ehrman is winking so to speak but the narration didn’t amplify it. Nevertheless, this is well worth the credit.

Struggled with academic presentation.

Too academic for the regular reader and the narrator didn't help with my appreciation of the subject.