Dozent Jan Age Sigvartsen discusses his interest and research into the resurrection beliefs found in the Apocrypha and the Pseudepigrapha.
How would you describe the aim of these books?
These books provide a balanced, comprehensive overview of the resurrection passages (an anthology) in the Apocrypha and the Pseudepigrapha, and identify 18 different distinct and complete death and afterlife beliefs. In addition to describing and discussing them, these books graphically chart these beliefs so the reader can quickly and easily see what these beliefs contain and compare them with other beliefs. They also consider the role and to what extent the books that later became the TaNaKh played in the formation of these afterlife beliefs. In a nutshell, they endeavor to understand what happened in the period between the TaNaKh that barely mentions personal resurrection beliefs, and when resurrection became a core belief in Rabbinic Judaism and Early Christianity.
What drew you to writing about afterlife and resurrection beliefs?
I am from Norway and have Viking ancestors, so my wife jokes that my interest in death and hellfire comes with the chromosomes! Mortality, I have found, is something everyone questions and faces at some time in their lives. For me, when I was nine years old, I lost my mother in a car crash and had to grapple with what happens after death. And I am certainly not alone. Even people from the Second Temple Period were grabbling with this question. The diversity of afterlife and resurrection beliefs from this historical period and the events that helped shape them, fascinates me. You can’t help but feel a connection with these ancient people as you read how they struggled to explain death and theodicy, and in doing so, seek justice for those who did not have justice in this world.
Are there any new discoveries that you made while writing these books?
There seems to be no logical, natural, or linear progression in the afterlife and resurrection beliefs from this period. One belief does not seem to evolve into another. Rather, multiple views coexisted, both simple and complex, and they seem to have been formed to address the needs of the community that endorsed that belief. Also, theodicy seems to be the predominant issue many of these beliefs are trying to address.
What does your book focus on that hasn’t been explored elsewhere?
These two books systematically go through the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha and consider all of the resurrection statements. They also contain a quick reference anthology to provide the reader with the immediate context of the resurrection statements. They evaluate and map how these statements are supported and also compares and contrasts them. In the process of doing this, I found 18 distinct and complete death-to-eternity views, however, there were many other partial views too, and they did not seem to fully align with these complete 18 views. Thus, during the Second Temple Period it seems like everyone had their own version of afterlife and resurrection belief. One thing these beliefs all seem to have in common though, is that they all attempt to consider the issue of theodicy and agree that how you live this life will impact what happens to you after you die.
What do you hope these volumes will contribute towards biblical focused scholarship on the Apocrypha, Apocalyptic Literature, and Pseudepigrapha?
I hope this massive study will provide a balanced and articulate identification of the distinct and complete afterlife and resurrection beliefs within the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha. Also, I hope that the anthology and visual charting of these beliefs will make it easier to understand them and quickly compare their differences. Afterlife and resurrection were a complex issue during this period and there were multiple variables that played into the formation of the complexity of these beliefs. I hope these books fill a much-lamented gap regarding the afterlife in Second Temple Period Judaism scholarship and help both scholars and students alike to easily study this fascinating topic.
Afterlife and Resurrection Beliefs in the Apocrypha and Apocalyptic Literature and Afterlife and Resurrection Beliefs in the Pseudepigrapha are the latest publications in the Jewish and Christian Texts series, and are available for pre-order now ahead of their publication in September 2019.
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