Heaven: A History
Some angels wear business suits, and some run around stark naked,  according toHeaven, a history of Christian ideas and images of the afterlife. Academics Colleen McDannell and Bernhard Lang have organized  their history in roughly chronological order, beginning with ancient Jewish  ideas about life after death and proceeding through centuries of elite and popular  sources: St. Augustine, Emanuel Swedenborg, Paul Tillich, and Hal Lindsey. Two major images of heaven dominate the Christian tradition. One is theocentric  ("eternal solitude with God alone"); the other is anthropocentric (believers are  reunited with friends and family.) And yet, these two very different ideas often coexist  in the same person's mind. "There is a world of difference between what  intellectuals state (and publish) as their considered opinion, and what they  express in unguarded moments," the authors note.Heavencan't solve any  mysteries about what happens after we die, but it does persuasively demonstrate  that "the ways in which people imagine heaven tell us how they understand themselves, their families, their society,  and their God."--Michael Joseph Gross--This text refers to an alternatePaperbackedition.