Critical Issues in Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Judaism

Studies of the afterlife in ancient Judaism have often charted the historical emergence and development of beliefs, like resurrection, that would ultimately become normative within Western religions. Yet recent studies have focused more intently on specific aspects of ancient literary evidence, including apocalypses, sapiential texts, Philo, Josephus, and select Dead Sea Scrolls. Social-scientific analysis has also brought clearer insights into the interactive roles that attitudes toward death may play in shaping behavior, community continuity, political resistance, and self-definition. The present article surveys these developments, highlighting the conceptual diversity of attitudes toward death and the varied social roles that they played within their ancient Jewish contexts. The conceptual variety and social adaptability of afterlife beliefs to varying sectors of Judaism offer a revealing window into the process of theodicy-creation and legitimation in ancient Judaism.