Aralu, and the
ancient Greeks
Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cultu ...
had one known as
Hades
Hades (; grc-gre, ᾍδης, Háidēs; ), in the ancient Greek religion and myth, is the god of the dead and the king of the underworld, with which his name became synonymous. Hades was the eldest son of Cronus and Rhea, although this also ...
. According to Brichto, other biblical names for Sheol were
Abaddon
The Hebrew term Abaddon ( he, אֲבַדּוֹן ''’Ăḇaddōn'', meaning "destruction", "doom"), and its Greek equivalent Apollyon ( grc-koi, Ἀπολλύων, ''Apollúōn'' meaning "Destroyer") appear in the Bible as both a place of de ...
"ruin", found in Psalm 88:11, Job 28:22 and Proverbs 15:11; Bor "pit", found in Isaiah 14:15, 24:22, Ezekiel 26:20; and Shakhat "corruption", found in Isaiah 38:17, Ezekiel 28:8.
[Herbert Chanon Brichto "Kin, Cult, Land and Afterlife – A Biblical Complex", Hebrew Union College Annual 44, p.8 (1973)]
During the
Second Temple period
The Second Temple period in Jewish history lasted approximately 600 years (516 BCE - 70 CE), during which the Second Temple existed. It started with the return to Zion and the construction of the Second Temple, while it ended with the First Jewis ...
, there developed a diversity of beliefs concerning the resurrection. The concept of resurrection of the physical body is found in
2 Maccabees
2 Maccabees, el, Μακκαβαίων Β´, translit=Makkabaíōn 2 also known as the Second Book of Maccabees, Second Maccabees, and abbreviated as 2 Macc., is a deuterocanonical book which recounts the persecution of Jews under King Antiochus I ...
, according to which it will happen through re-creation of the flesh. Resurrection of the dead also appears in detail in the extra-canonical
Book of Enoch,
2 Baruch 2 Baruch is a Jewish pseudepigraphical text thought to have been written in the late 1st century CE or early 2nd century CE, after the destruction of the Temple in CE 70. It is attributed to the biblical Baruch and so is associated with the Old Tes ...
, and
2 Esdras
2 Esdras (also called 4 Esdras, Latin Esdras, or Latin Ezra) is an apocalyptic book in some English versions of the Bible. Tradition ascribes it to Ezra, a scribe and priest of the , but scholarship places its composition between 70 and .
It ...
. According to the British scholar in ancient Judaism
Philip R. Davies
Philip R. Davies (1945–2018) was a British biblical scholar. He was Professor Emeritus of biblical studies at the University of Sheffield, England. In the late 1990s, he was the Director for the Centre for the Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls. He ...
, there is “little or no clear reference … either to immortality or to resurrection from the dead” in the texts of the
Dead Sea Scrolls
The Dead Sea Scrolls (also the Qumran Caves Scrolls) are ancient Jewish and Hebrew religious manuscripts discovered between 1946 and 1956 at the Qumran Caves in what was then Mandatory Palestine, near Ein Feshkha in the West Bank, on the nor ...
.
C.D. Elledge
A CD or compact disc is a thin plastic silvery disc for audio recordings.
CD or cd may also refer to:
Science and technology Astronomy and cosmology
* Cordoba Durchmusterung, a star catalog of the southern sky
* Cosmological decade or CÐ, a u ...
, however, argues that some form of resurrection may be referred to in the Dead Sea texts
4Q521,
Pseudo-Ezekiel
Also known as 4QPseudo-Ezekiel, and referred to in older reference sources as 4QSecond Ezekiel, Pseudo-Ezekiel is a fragmentary, pseudepigraphic, Hebrew text found in Cave 4 at Qumran, and belongs to the cache of manuscripts popularly known as the ...
, and
4QInstruction 4QInstruction, ( he, מוסר למבין, Musar leMevin, Instruction to a student), also known as Sapiential Work A or Secret of the Way Things Are, is a Hebrew text among the Dead Sea Scrolls classified as wisdom literature. It is authored by a spi ...
.
Both
Josephus
Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for ''The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly d ...
and the
New Testament
The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...
record that the
Sadducees
The Sadducees (; he, צְדוּקִים, Ṣədūqīm) were a socio-religious sect of Jewish people who were active in Judea during the Second Temple period, from the second century BCE through the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE. Th ...
did not believe in an
afterlife
The afterlife (also referred to as life after death) is a purported existence in which the essential part of an individual's identity or their stream of consciousness continues to live after the death of their physical body. The surviving ess ...
, but the sources vary on the beliefs of the
Pharisees
The Pharisees (; he, פְּרוּשִׁים, Pərūšīm) were a Jewish social movement and a school of thought in the Levant during the time of Second Temple Judaism. After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, Pharisaic beliefs bec ...
. The New Testament claims that the Pharisees believed in the resurrection, but does not specify whether this included the flesh or not. According to Josephus, who himself was a Pharisee, the Pharisees held that only the soul was immortal and the souls of good people will “pass into other bodies,” while “the souls of the wicked will suffer eternal punishment.”
Paul the Apostle
Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...
, who also was a Pharisee, said that at the resurrection what is "sown as a natural body is raised a spiritual body." The
Book of Jubilees
The Book of Jubilees, sometimes called Lesser Genesis (Leptogenesis), is an ancient Jewish religious work of 50 chapters (1,341 verses), considered canonical by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church as well as Beta Israel (Ethiopian Jews), where it is ...
seems to refer to the resurrection of the soul only, or to a more general idea of an immortal soul.
Anastasis in contemporary philosophy
Anastasis or Ana-stasis is a concept in contemporary philosophy emerging from the works of
Jean-Luc Nancy
Jean-Luc Nancy ( , ; 26 July 1940 – 23 August 2021) was a French philosopher. Nancy's first book, published in 1973, was ''Le titre de la lettre'' (''The Title of the Letter'', 1992), a reading of the work of French psychoanalyst Jacques Laca ...
,
Divya Dwivedi
Divya Dwivedi is a philosopher and author based in India. She is an associate professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. Her work focuses on ontology, metaphysics, literature, and Political philosophy, philosophy of politics.
Early ...
and
Shaj Mohan
Shaj Mohan is a philosopher based in India. His philosophical works are in the areas of metaphysics, reason, philosophy of technology, philosophy of politics, and secrecy. Mohan's works are based on the principle of ''anastasis'' according to ...
. Nancy developed the concept through his interpretation of paintings depicting the resurrection of
Jesus Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
. Dwivedi and Mohan, referring to Nancy, defined Ana-stasis as coming over stasis, which is a method for philosophy to overcome its end as
Martin Heidegger
Martin Heidegger (; ; 26 September 188926 May 1976) was a German philosopher who is best known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. He is among the most important and influential philosophers of the 20th centur ...
defined. This concept is noted to be linked in the works of Nancy, Dwivedi and Mohan to have a relation to Heidegger'
“other beginning of philosophy” The use of the phrase “anastasis of philosophy” indicates such other beginning.
Technological resurrection
Cryonics
Cryonics
Cryonics (from el, κρύος ''kryos'' meaning 'cold') is the low-temperature freezing (usually at ) and storage of human remains, with the speculative hope that resurrection may be possible in the future. Cryonics is regarded with skepticis ...
is the
low-temperature freezing (usually at ) of a human corpse or severed head, with the speculative hope that resurrection may be possible in the
future
The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently ...
.
Cryonics is regarded with
skepticism
Skepticism, also spelled scepticism, is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person is skeptical about claims made by their government about an ongoing war then the pe ...
within the mainstream scientic community. It is generally viewed as a
pseudoscience
Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or falsifiability, unfa ...
,
and has been characterized as
quackery
Quackery, often synonymous with health fraud, is the promotion of fraudulent or ignorant medical practices. A quack is a "fraudulent or ignorant pretender to medical skill" or "a person who pretends, professionally or publicly, to have skill, ...
.
Digital ghosts
In his book 1988 ''Mind Children'',
roboticist
Robotics is an interdisciplinary branch of computer science and engineering. Robotics involves design, construction, operation, and use of robots. The goal of robotics is to design machines that can help and assist humans. Robotics integrat ...
Hans Moravec
Hans Peter Moravec (born November 30, 1948, Kautzen, Austria) is an adjunct faculty member at the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, USA. He is known for his work on robotics, artificial intelligence, and writings on ...
proposed that a future
supercomputer
A supercomputer is a computer with a high level of performance as compared to a general-purpose computer. The performance of a supercomputer is commonly measured in floating-point operations per second ( FLOPS) instead of million instructions ...
might be able to resurrect long-dead minds from the information that still survived. For example, such can include information in the form of memories, filmstrips, social media interactions, modeled personality traits,
personal favourite things,
personal notes and tasks,
medical records
The terms medical record, health record and medical chart are used somewhat interchangeably to describe the systematic documentation of a single patient's medical history and care across time within one particular health care provider's jurisdic ...
, and
genetic information
A nucleic acid sequence is a succession of bases signified by a series of a set of five different letters that indicate the order of nucleotides forming alleles within a DNA (using GACT) or RNA (GACU) molecule. By convention, sequences are usua ...
.
Ray Kurzweil
Raymond Kurzweil ( ; born February 12, 1948) is an American computer scientist, author, inventor, and futurist. He is involved in fields such as optical character recognition (OCR), text-to-speech synthesis, speech recognition technology, and e ...
, American inventor and
futurist
Futurists (also known as futurologists, prospectivists, foresight practitioners and horizon scanners) are people whose specialty or interest is futurology or the attempt to systematically explore predictions and possibilities abou ...
, believes that when his concept of
singularity comes to pass, it will be possible to resurrect the dead by digital recreation. Such is one approach in the concept of
digital immortality
Digital immortality (or "virtual immortality") is the hypothetical concept of storing (or transferring) a person's personality in digital substrate, i.e., a computer, robot or cyberspace (mind uploading). The result might look like an avatar beh ...
, which could be described as resurrecting deceased as "digital
ghost
A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...
s" or "digital avatars". In the context of
knowledge management
Knowledge management (KM) is the collection of methods relating to creating, sharing, using and managing the knowledge and information of an organization. It refers to a multidisciplinary approach to achieve organisational objectives by making ...
, "virtual persona" could "aid in knowledge capture, retention, distribution, access and use" and continue to learn.
Issues include
post-mortem privacy
Post-mortem privacy is a person's ability to control the dissemination of personal information after death. An individual's reputation and dignity after death is also subject to post-mortem privacy protections. In the US, no federal laws specif ...
, and potential use of personalised digital twins and associated systems by
big data
Though used sometimes loosely partly because of a lack of formal definition, the interpretation that seems to best describe Big data is the one associated with large body of information that we could not comprehend when used only in smaller am ...
firms and advertisers.
Related alternative approaches of digital immortality include gradually "
replacing" neurons in the brain with advanced medical technology (such as
nanobiotechnology
Nanobiotechnology, bionanotechnology, and nanobiology are terms that refer to the intersection of nanotechnology and biology. Given that the subject is one that has only emerged very recently, bionanotechnology and nanobiotechnology serve as blan ...
) as a form of
mind uploading
Mind uploading is a speculative process of whole brain emulation in which a brain scan is used to completely emulate the mental state of the individual in a digital computer. The computer would then run a simulation of the brain's information pr ...
(see also:
wetware computer
A wetware computer is an organic computer (which can also be known as an artificial organic brain or a neurocomputer) composed of organic material " wetware" such as "living" neurons. Wetware computers composed of neurons are different than conv ...
).
De-extinction
De-extinction
De-extinction (also known as resurrection biology, or species revivalism) is the process of generating an organism that either resembles or ''is'' an extinct species. There are several ways to carry out the process of de-extinction. Cloning is th ...
, enabling an organism that either resembles or is an
extinct species
This page features lists of extinct species, organisms that have become extinct, either in the wild or completely disappeared from Earth.
In actual theoretical practice, a species not definitely located in the wild in the last fifty years of cur ...
, is also known as "resurrection biology" and often described as working on "resurrecting" dead species.
Medical resuscitation
Modern medicine can, in some cases, revive patients who "died" by some definitions of
death
Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...
.
Most advanced versions of such capabilities may include a method/system under development reported in 2019, 'BrainEx', that could partially revive (pig) brains hours after death (to the degree of brain circulation and cellular functions).
It showed that "the process of cell death is a gradual, stepwise process and that some of those processes can be either postponed, preserved or even reversed". A similar
organ perfusion system under development, 'OrganEx', can restore – i.e. on the cellular level – multiple vital (pig) organs one hour after death (during which the body had prolonged warm
ischaemia
Ischemia or ischaemia is a restriction in blood supply to any tissue, muscle group, or organ of the body, causing a shortage of oxygen that is needed for cellular metabolism (to keep tissue alive). Ischemia is generally caused by problems wi ...
).
It could be used to preserve
donor organ
Organ donation is the process when a person allows an organ (anatomy), organ of their own to be removed and organ transplantation, transplanted to another person, #Legislation and global perspectives, legally, either by consent while the donor ...
s but may also be developed to be useful for revival in medical emergencies by buying "more time for doctors to treat people whose bodies were starved of oxygen, such as those who died from drowning or heart attacks".
There is research into what happens during and after death as well as how and to what extent patients could be revived by the use of science and technology. For example, one study showed that in the hours after humans die, "certain cells
in the human brain are still active". However, it is thought that at least ''without'' any life-support-like systems, death is permanent and irreversible after several hours – not days – even in cases when revival was still possible shortly after death.
A 2010 study notes that physicians are determining death "test only for the permanent cessation of circulation and respiration because they know that irreversible cessation follows rapidly and inevitably once circulation no longer will restore itself spontaneously and will not be restored medically". Development of advanced live support measures "including
cardiopulmonary resuscitation
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an emergency procedure consisting of chest compressions often combined with artificial ventilation in an effort to manually preserve intact brain function until further measures are taken to restore spont ...
(CPR) and
positive pressure ventilation
Modes of mechanical ventilation are one of the most important aspects of the usage of mechanical ventilation. The mode refers to the method of inspiratory support. In general, mode selection is based on clinician familiarity and institutional pref ...
(PPV)" brought the interdependence of cessation of brain function and loss of respiration and circulation and "the traditional definition of death into question" and further developments upend more "definitions of mortality".
Hypothetical speculations without existing technologies
Russian cosmist
Russian cosmism, also cosmism, is a philosophical and cultural movement that emerged in Russia at the turn of the 19th century, and again, at the beginning of the 20th century. At the beginning of the 20th century, there was a burst of scientific ...
Nikolai Fyodorovich Fyodorov
Nikolai Fyodorovich Fyodorov (russian: Никола́й Фёдорович Фёдоров; surname also Anglicized as "Fedorov", June 9, 1829 – December 28, 1903) was a Russian Orthodox Christian philosopher, who was part of the Russian cosm ...
advocated resurrection of the dead using scientific methods. Fedorov tried to plan specific actions for scientific research of the possibility of restoring life and making it infinite. His first project is connected with collecting and synthesizing decayed remains of dead based on "knowledge and control over all atoms and molecules of the world". The second method described by Fedorov is genetic-hereditary. The revival could be done successively in the ancestral line: sons and daughters restore their fathers and mothers, they in turn restore their parents and so on. This means restoring the ancestors using the hereditary information that they passed on to their children. Using this genetic method it is only possible to create a
genetic twin of the dead person. It is necessary to give back the revived person his old mind, his personality. Fedorov speculates about the idea of "radial images" that may contain the personalities of the people and survive after death. Nevertheless, Fedorov noted that even if a soul is destroyed after death, Man will learn to restore it whole by mastering the forces of decay and fragmentation.
In his 1994 book ''The Physics of Immortality'', American
physicist
A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe.
Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...
Frank J. Tipler, an expert on the
general theory of relativity
General relativity, also known as the general theory of relativity and Einstein's theory of gravity, is the differential geometry, geometric scientific theory, theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1915 and is the current descr ...
, presented his
Omega Point Theory which outlines how a resurrection of the dead could take place at the end of the
cosmos
The cosmos (, ) is another name for the Universe. Using the word ''cosmos'' implies viewing the universe as a complex and orderly system or entity.
The cosmos, and understandings of the reasons for its existence and significance, are studied in ...
. He posits that humans will evolve into
robots "\n\n\n\n\nThe robots exclusion standard, also known as the robots exclusion protocol or simply robots.txt, is a standard used by websites to indicate to visiting web crawlers and other web robots which portions of the site they are allowed to visi ...
which will turn the entire
cosmos
The cosmos (, ) is another name for the Universe. Using the word ''cosmos'' implies viewing the universe as a complex and orderly system or entity.
The cosmos, and understandings of the reasons for its existence and significance, are studied in ...
into a
supercomputer
A supercomputer is a computer with a high level of performance as compared to a general-purpose computer. The performance of a supercomputer is commonly measured in floating-point operations per second ( FLOPS) instead of million instructions ...
which will, shortly before the
Big Crunch
The Big Crunch is a hypothetical scenario for the ultimate fate of the universe, in which the expansion of the universe eventually reverses and the universe recollapses, ultimately causing the cosmic scale factor to reach zero, an event potential ...
, perform the resurrection within its
cyberspace
Cyberspace is a concept describing a widespread interconnected digital technology. "The expression dates back from the first decade of the diffusion of the internet. It refers to the online world as a world 'apart', as distinct from everyday rea ...
, reconstructing formerly dead humans (from information captured by the
supercomputer
A supercomputer is a computer with a high level of performance as compared to a general-purpose computer. The performance of a supercomputer is commonly measured in floating-point operations per second ( FLOPS) instead of million instructions ...
from the past
light cone
In special and general relativity, a light cone (or "null cone") is the path that a flash of light, emanating from a single event (localized to a single point in space and a single moment in time) and traveling in all directions, would take thro ...
of the cosmos) as
avatars
Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearance ...
within its
metaverse
In science fiction, the "metaverse" is a hypothetical iteration of the Internet as a single, universal, and immersive virtual world that is facilitated by the use of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) headsets. In colloquial usage, ...
.
David Deutsch
David Elieser Deutsch ( ; born 18 May 1953) is a British physicist at the University of Oxford. He is a Visiting Professor in the Department of Atomic and Laser Physics at the Centre for Quantum Computation (CQC) in the Clarendon Laboratory of ...
, British
physicist
A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe.
Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...
and pioneer in the field of
quantum computing
Quantum computing is a type of computation whose operations can harness the phenomena of quantum mechanics, such as superposition, interference, and entanglement. Devices that perform quantum computations are known as quantum computers. Though ...
, formerly agreed with Tipler's Omega Point cosmology and the idea of resurrecting deceased people with the help of quantum computers but he is critical of Tipler's theological views.
Italian
physicist
A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe.
Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...
and
computer scientist
A computer scientist is a person who is trained in the academic study of computer science.
Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation, as opposed to the hardware side on which computer engineers mainly focus (al ...
Giulio Prisco
Giulio Prisco (born in Naples in 1957) is an Italian information technology virtual reality consultant; as well as a writer, futurist, transhumanist, and cosmist. He is an advocate of cryonics and contributes to the science and technology on ...
presented the idea of "quantum archaeology", "reconstructing the life, thoughts, memories, and feelings of any person in the past, up to any desired level of detail, and thus resurrecting the original person via 'copying to the future'".
In their
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
novel
A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...
''
The Light of Other Days
''The Light of Other Days'' is a 2000 science fiction novel written by Stephen Baxter based on a synopsis by Arthur C. Clarke,Arthur C. Clarke, ''Profiles of the Future: An Inquiry into the Limits of the Possible'', Millennium .e., Seco ...
'',
Sir Arthur Clarke and
Stephen Baxter imagine a future civilization resurrecting the dead of past ages by reaching into the past, through micro
wormholes
A wormhole (Einstein-Rosen bridge) is a hypothetical structure connecting disparate points in spacetime, and is based on a special solution of the Einstein field equations.
A wormhole can be visualized as a tunnel with two ends at separate po ...
and with
nanorobots
Nanoid robotics, or for short, nanorobotics or nanobotics, is an emerging technology field creating machines or robots whose components are at or near the scale of a nanometer (10−9 meters). More specifically, nanorobotics (as opposed to mi ...
, to download full snapshots of
brain
A brain is an organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It is located in the head, usually close to the sensory organs for senses such as vision. It is the most complex organ in a v ...
states and memories.
In religions
Both the Church of Perpetual Life and the
Terasem Movement
The Terasem Movement is a group of three organizations based in the United States. The name (Tera–Earth, Sem–Seed) was inspired by Earthseed, a fictional religion from the works of Octavia Butler. The movement was founded by Martine Rothblat ...
consider themselves
transreligions and advocate for the use of technology to indefinitely
extend the human lifespan.
Zombies
A zombie (
Haitian French
Haitian French (french: français haïtien, Haitian Creole: ''fransè ayisyen'') is the variety of French spoken in Haiti. Haitian French is close to standard French. It should be distinguished from Haitian Creole.
Phonology
The phoneme co ...
: ', ht, zonbi) is a fictional
undead
The undead are beings in mythology, legend, or fiction that are deceased but behave as if alive. Most commonly the term refers to corporeal forms of formerly-alive humans, such as mummies, vampires, and zombies, who have been reanimated by super ...
being created through the reanimation of a human
corpse
A cadaver or corpse is a dead human body that is used by medical students, physicians and other scientists to study anatomy, identify disease sites, determine causes of death, and provide tissue to repair a defect in a living human being. Stu ...
. Zombies are most commonly found in
horror and
fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...
genre works. The term comes from
Haitian folklore, where a ''zombie'' is a dead body reanimated through various methods, most commonly
magic
Magic or Magick most commonly refers to:
* Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces
* Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic
* Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...
.
Disappearances (as distinct from resurrection)
As knowledge of different religions has grown, so have claims of bodily disappearance of some religious and mythological figures. In
ancient Greek religion
Religious practices in ancient Greece encompassed a collection of beliefs, rituals, and mythology, in the form of both popular public religion and cult practices. The application of the modern concept of "religion" to ancient cultures has been ...
, this was a way the gods made some physically immortal, including such figures as
Cleitus,
Ganymede,
Menelaus
In Greek mythology, Menelaus (; grc-gre, Μενέλαος , 'wrath of the people', ) was a king of Mycenaean (pre- Dorian) Sparta. According to the ''Iliad'', Menelaus was a central figure in the Trojan War, leading the Spartan contingent of th ...
, and
Tithonus
In Greek mythology, Tithonus ( or ; grc, Τιθωνός, Tithonos) was the lover of Eos, Goddess of the Dawn. He was a prince of Troy, the son of King Laomedon by the Naiad Strymo (Στρυμώ). The mythology reflected by the fifth-century vas ...
. After his death,
Cycnus :''The butterfly genus ''Cycnus'' is now synonymized with ''Panthiades.
In Greek mythology, multiple characters were known as Cycnus (Ancient Greek: Κύκνος) or Cygnus. The literal meaning of the name is "swan", and accordingly most of them end ...
was changed into a
swan
Swans are birds of the family (biology), family Anatidae within the genus ''Cygnus''. The swans' closest relatives include the goose, geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form t ...
and vanished. In his chapter on
Romulus
Romulus () was the legendary foundation of Rome, founder and King of Rome, first king of Ancient Rome, Rome. Various traditions attribute the establishment of many of Rome's oldest legal, political, religious, and social institutions to Romulus ...
from
Parallel Lives
Plutarch's ''Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans'', commonly called ''Parallel Lives'' or ''Plutarch's Lives'', is a series of 48 biographies of famous men, arranged in pairs to illuminate their common moral virtues or failings, probably writt ...
,
Plutarch
Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''P ...
criticises the continuous belief in such disappearances, referring to the allegedly miraculous disappearance of the historical figures Romulus, Cleomedes of Astypalaea, and
Croesus
Croesus ( ; Lydian: ; Phrygian: ; grc, Κροισος, Kroisos; Latin: ; reigned: c. 585 – c. 546 BC) was the king of Lydia, who reigned from 585 BC until his defeat by the Persian king Cyrus the Great in 547 or 546 BC.
Croesus was ...
. In ancient times, Greek and Roman pagan similarities were explained by the early Christian writers, such as
Justin Martyr
Justin Martyr ( el, Ἰουστῖνος ὁ μάρτυς, Ioustinos ho martys; c. AD 100 – c. AD 165), also known as Justin the Philosopher, was an early Christian apologist and philosopher.
Most of his works are lost, but two apologies and ...
, as the work of demons, with the intention of leading Christians astray.
In the Buddhist
Epic of King Gesar
The Epic of King Gesar ( Tibetan, Bhutanese: གླིང་གེ་སར །), also spelled Geser (especially in Mongolian contexts) or Kesar (), is a work of epic literature of Tibet and greater Central Asia. The epic originally develop ...
, also spelled as Geser or Kesar, at the end, chants on a mountain top and his clothes fall empty to the ground. The body of the first Guru of the
Sikh
Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...
s,
Guru Nanak Dev
Guru ( sa, गुरु, IAST: ''guru;'' Pali'': garu'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: traditionally, the guru is a reverentia ...
, is said to have disappeared and flowers left in place of his dead body.
Lord Raglan
Baron Raglan, of Raglan in the County of Monmouth, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 20 October 1852 for the military commander Lord FitzRoy Somerset, chiefly remembered as commander of the British troops ...
's
Hero Pattern
Hero Pattern was an American rock band from New Jersey.
History
Hero Pattern was a four-piece rock band from Sparta, New Jersey. They play post-grunge and modern rock that draws inspiration the music of Elvis Costello and Tom Petty, and music ...
lists many religious figures whose bodies disappear, or have more than one
sepulchre. B. Traven, author of ''
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre'', wrote that the
Inca
The Inca Empire (also known as the Incan Empire and the Inka Empire), called ''Tawantinsuyu'' by its subjects, (Quechua for the "Realm of the Four Parts", "four parts together" ) was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The admin ...
Virococha
Viracocha is the great creator deity in the pre-Inca and Inca mythology in the Andes region of South America. Full name and some spelling alternatives are Wiracocha, Apu Qun Tiqsi Wiraqutra, and Con-Tici (also spelled Kon-Tiki, the source of the ...
arrived at Cusco (in modern-day Peru) and the Pacific seacoast where he walked across the water and vanished. It has been thought that teachings regarding the purity and incorruptibility of the hero's human body are linked to this phenomenon. Perhaps, this is also to deter the practice of disturbing and collecting the hero's remains. They are safely protected if they have disappeared.
The first such case mentioned in the Bible is that of
Enoch
Enoch () ''Henṓkh''; ar, أَخْنُوخ ', Qur'ān.html"_;"title="ommonly_in_Qur'ān">ommonly_in_Qur'ānic_literature__'_is_a_biblical_figure_and_Patriarchs_(Bible).html" "title="Qur'ānic_literature.html" ;"title="Qur'ān.html" ;"title="o ...
(son of
Jared
Jared is a given name of Biblical derivation.
Origin
In the Book of Genesis, the biblical patriarch Jared (יֶרֶד) was the sixth in the ten pre-flood generations between Adam and Noah; he was the son of Mahalaleel and the father of Enoch, ...
, great-grandfather of
Noah
Noah ''Nukh''; am, ኖህ, ''Noḥ''; ar, نُوح '; grc, Νῶε ''Nôe'' () is the tenth and last of the pre-Flood patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5– ...
, and father of
Methuselah
Methuselah () ( he, מְתוּשֶׁלַח ''Məṯūšélaḥ'', in pausa ''Məṯūšālaḥ'', "His death shall send" or "Man of the javelin" or "Death of Sword";
gr, Μαθουσάλας ''Mathousalas'') was a biblical patriarch and a ...
). Enoch is said to have lived a life where he "walked with God", after which "he was not, for God took him" (Genesis 5:1–18). In
Deuteronomy
Deuteronomy ( grc, Δευτερονόμιον, Deuteronómion, second law) is the fifth and last book of the Torah (in Judaism), where it is called (Hebrew: hbo, , Dəḇārīm, hewords Moses.html"_;"title="f_Moses">f_Moseslabel=none)_and_th ...
(34:6)
Moses
Moses hbo, מֹשֶׁה, Mōše; also known as Moshe or Moshe Rabbeinu (Mishnaic Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ, ); syr, ܡܘܫܐ, Mūše; ar, موسى, Mūsā; grc, Mωϋσῆς, Mōÿsēs () is considered the most important pro ...
is secretly buried.
Elijah
Elijah ( ; he, אֵלִיָּהוּ, ʾĒlīyyāhū, meaning "My God is Yahweh/YHWH"; Greek form: Elias, ''Elías''; syr, ܐܸܠܝܼܵܐ, ''Elyāe''; Arabic: إلياس or إليا, ''Ilyās'' or ''Ilyā''. ) was, according to the Books of ...
vanishes in a whirlwind
2 Kings
The Book of Kings (, '' Sēfer Məlāḵīm'') is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Kings) in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. It concludes the Deuteronomistic history, a history of Israel also including the books ...
(2:11). In the
Synoptic Gospels
The gospels of Gospel of Matthew, Matthew, Gospel of Mark, Mark, and Gospel of Luke, Luke are referred to as the synoptic Gospels because they include many of the same stories, often in a similar sequence and in similar or sometimes identical ...
, after hundreds of years these two earlier Biblical heroes suddenly reappear, and are reportedly seen walking with Jesus, then again vanish.
Mark
Mark may refer to:
Currency
* Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina
* East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic
* Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927
* Fi ...
(9:2–8), Matthew
Matthew may refer to:
* Matthew (given name)
* Matthew (surname)
* ''Matthew'' (ship), the replica of the ship sailed by John Cabot in 1497
* ''Matthew'' (album), a 2000 album by rapper Kool Keith
* Matthew (elm cultivar), a cultivar of the Ch ...
(17:1–8) and Luke
People
*Luke (given name), a masculine given name (including a list of people and characters with the name)
*Luke (surname) (including a list of people and characters with the name)
*Luke the Evangelist, author of the Gospel of Luke. Also known as ...
(9:28–33) In the
Gospel of Luke
The Gospel of Luke), or simply Luke (which is also its most common form of abbreviation). tells of the origins, birth, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. Together with the Acts of the Apostles, it makes up a two-volu ...
, the last time Jesus is seen (24:51) he leaves his disciples by
ascending into the sky. This ascension of Jesus was a “disappearance” of sorts as recorded by Luke but was after the physical resurrection occurring several days before.
See also
*
1 Corinthians 15
1 Corinthians 15 is the fifteenth chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It is authored by Paul the Apostle and Sosthenes in Ephesus. The first eleven verses contain the earliest account o ...
*
Information-theoretic death
Information-theoretic death is a term of art used in cryonics to define death in a way that is permanent and independent of any future medical advances, no matter how distant or improbable that may be. Because detailed reading or restoration of in ...
*
Metempsychosis
Metempsychosis ( grc-gre, μετεμψύχωσις), in philosophy, is the transmigration of the soul, especially its reincarnation after death. The term is derived from ancient Greek philosophy, and has been recontextualised by modern philoso ...
*
Near death experience
A near-death experience (NDE) is a profound personal experience associated with death or impending death which researchers claim share similar characteristics. When positive, such experiences may encompass a variety of sensations including detac ...
*
Necromancy
Necromancy () is the practice of magic or black magic involving communication with the dead by summoning their spirits as apparitions or visions, or by resurrection for the purpose of divination; imparting the means to foretell future events; ...
*
Riverworld
Riverworld is a fictional planet and the setting for a series of science fiction books written by Philip José Farmer (1918–2009). Riverworld is an artificial "Super-Earth" environment where all humans (and pre-humans) are reconstructed. The b ...
*
Suspended animation
Suspended animation is the temporary (short- or long-term) slowing or stopping of biological function so that physiological capabilities are preserved. It may be either hypometabolic or ametabolic in nature. It may be induced by either endogen ...
*
Undead
The undead are beings in mythology, legend, or fiction that are deceased but behave as if alive. Most commonly the term refers to corporeal forms of formerly-alive humans, such as mummies, vampires, and zombies, who have been reanimated by super ...
References
Further reading
*
Alan J. Avery-Peck
Alan may refer to:
People
*Alan (surname), an English and Turkish surname
*Alan (given name), an English given name
**List of people with given name Alan
''Following are people commonly referred to solely by "Alan" or by a homonymous name.''
*Al ...
&
Jacob Neusner
Jacob Neusner (July 28, 1932 – October 8, 2016) was an American academic scholar of Judaism. He was named as one of the most published authors in history, having written or edited more than 900 books.
Life and career
Neusner was born in Hartfor ...
(eds.). ''Judaism in Late Antiquity: Part Four: Death, Life-After-Death, Resurrection, and the World-To-Come in the Judaisms of Antiquity.'' Leiden: Brill, 2000.
*
Caroline Walker Bynum
Caroline Walker Bynum, FBA (born May 10, 1941, in Atlanta, Georgia)[Caroline Walker Bynum short CV](_blank)
at < ...
. ''The Resurrection of the Body in Western Christianity, 200-1336.'' New York: Columbia University Press, 1996.
*
C.D. Elledge
A CD or compact disc is a thin plastic silvery disc for audio recordings.
CD or cd may also refer to:
Science and technology Astronomy and cosmology
* Cordoba Durchmusterung, a star catalog of the southern sky
* Cosmological decade or CÐ, a u ...
. ''Resurrection of the Dead in Early Judaism, 200 BCE -- CE 200''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017.
*
Dag Øistein Endsjø Dag Øistein Endsjø (born 11 November 1968 in Ann Arbor, Michigan) is a Norwegian professor of religious studies at the University of Oslo, Norway. He's been published in thirteen languages.
Career
Endsjø research focuses on the continuity betw ...
. ''Greek Resurrection Beliefs and the Success of Christianity''. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.
*
Mark T. Finney. ''Resurrection, Hell and the Afterlife: Body and Soul in Antiquity, Judaism and Early Christianity''. New York: Routledge, 2017.
*
Nikolai Fyodorovich Fyodorov
Nikolai Fyodorovich Fyodorov (russian: Никола́й Фёдорович Фёдоров; surname also Anglicized as "Fedorov", June 9, 1829 – December 28, 1903) was a Russian Orthodox Christian philosopher, who was part of the Russian cosm ...
. ''Philosophy of Physical Resurrection'' 1906.
*
Edwin Hatch
Edwin Warren Hatch (4 September 1835 Derby, England – 10 November 1889 Oxford, England) was an English theologian. He is best known as the author of the book '' Influence of Greek Ideas and Usages Upon the Christian Church'', which was based ...
. ''Influence of Greek Ideas and Usages Upon the Christian Church'' (1888 Hibbert Lectures).
*
Alfred J Hebert
Alfred may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
*'' Alfred J. Kwak'', Dutch-German-Japanese anime television series
* ''Alfred'' (Arne opera), a 1740 masque by Thomas Arne
* ''Alfred'' (Dvořák), an 1870 opera by Antonín Dvořák
*"Alfred (Interl ...
. ''Raised from the Dead: True Stories of 400 Resurrection Miracles''.
*
Dierk Lange"The dying and the rising God in the New Year Festival of Ife" in: Lange, ''Ancient Kingdoms of West Africa'', Dettelbach: Röll Vlg. 2004, pp. 343–376.
*
Outi Lehtipuu. ''Debates over the Resurrection of the Dead: Constructing Early Christian Identity''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015.
*
Richard Longenecker
Richard N. Longenecker (July 21, 1930 - June 7, 2021) was a prominent New Testament scholar. He held teaching positions at Wheaton College and Graduate School (1954-57; 1960-63); Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (1963-72); Wycliffe College (T ...
, editor. ''Life in the Face of Death: The Resurrection Message of the New Testament''. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998.
*
Joseph McCabe
Joseph Martin McCabe (12 November 1867 – 10 January 1955) was an English writer and speaker on freethought, after having been a Roman Catholic priest earlier in his life. He was "one of the great mouthpieces of freethought in England". Becomi ...
. ''Myth of the Resurrection and Other Essays'', Prometheus books: New York, 1993
925*
Kevin J. Madigan Kevin J. Madigan is a historian of Christianity who has taught at Harvard University since 2000. A member of the Faculty of Divinity, he has also served on Harvard's Committee on the Study of Religion, the Medieval Studies Committee, and the Cente ...
&
Jon D. Levenson
Jon Douglas Levenson is an American Hebrew Bible scholar who is the Albert A. List Professor of Jewish Studies at the Harvard Divinity School.
Education
*A.B. '' summa cum laude'' in English, Harvard College, 1971.
*A.M. Department of Near Easter ...
. ''Resurrection: The Power of God for Christians and Jews''. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008.
*
Tryggve Mettinger
Tryggve Mettinger (born 1940 in Helsingborg)https://sots1917.org/about-the-society/honorary-members/ is a retired professor of Hebrew Bible, at Lund University, Sweden, where he taught from 1978 to 2003.
Life and work
Between 1960 and 1978, Mett ...
. ''The Riddle of Resurrection: "Dying and Rising Gods" in the Ancient Near East'', Stockholm: Almqvist, 2001.
*
Markus Mühling Markus Mühling (born 27 December 1969, Frankfurt am Main) is a Protestant systematic theologian and philosopher of religion whose work focuses largely on the doctrine of God, eschatology, the atonement and the dialogue between the natural sciences ...
. ''Grundinformation Eschatologie. Systematische Theologie aus der Perspektive der Hoffnung''. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2007.
*
George Nickelsburg
George may refer to:
People
* George (given name)
* George (surname)
* George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George
* George Washington, First President of the United States
* George W. Bush, 43rd President ...
. ''Resurrection, Immortality, and Eternal Life in Intertestmental Judaism''. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1972.
*
Pheme Perkins Pheme Perkins (born 1945 in Louisville, Kentucky) is a Professor of Theology at Boston College, where she has been teaching since 1972. She is a nationally recognized expert on the Greco-Roman cultural setting of early Christianity, as well as the P ...
. ''Resurrection: New Testament Witness and Contemporary Reflection''. Garden City: Doubleday & Company, 1984.
*
Simcha Paull Raphael. ''Jewish Views of the Afterlife''. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2009.
*
Erwin Rohde
Erwin Rohde (; 9 October 1845 – 11 January 1898) was one of the great Germany, German classical scholars of the 19th century.
Rohde was born in Hamburg and was the son of a doctor. Outside of antiquarian circles, Rohde is known today chie ...
''Psyche: The Cult of Souls and Belief in Immortality among the Greeks''. New York: Harper & Row, 1925
921
__NOTOC__
Year 921 ( CMXXI) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Byzantine Empire
* March – Battle of Pegae: Bulgarian forces under ''kavhan'' (first ...
*
Charles H. Talbert
Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...
. "The Concept of Immortals in Mediterranean Antiquity", ''Journal of Biblical Literature'', Volume 94, 1975, pp 419–436.
*
Charles H. Talbert
Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...
. "The Myth of a Descending-Ascending Redeemer in Mediterranean Antiquity", ''New Testament Studies'', Volume 22, 1975/76, pp 418–440.
*
*
N.T. Wright (2003). ''The Resurrection of the Son of God''. London: SPCK; Minneapolis: Fortress Press.
External links
*
Resurrection of Jesus Christ- Catholic Encyclopedia
Article on resurrection in the Hebrew Bible.Jewish Encyclopedia: ResurrectionThe enticement of the Occult: Occultism examined by a scientist and Orthodox PriestRethinking the resurrection.(of Jesus Christ)(Cover Story) Newsweek, April 8th 1996, Woodward, Kenneth L.''Dictionary of the History of Ideas'':Death and Immortality, Resurrection, Reincarnation
{{Authority control
Afterlife
Miracles
Mythology
Religious belief and doctrine