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Soul & Body: The Developments of the Ideology of Resurrection in Ancient Israel

Received: 22 July 2015    Accepted: 03 August 2015    Published: 21 August 2015
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Abstract

The Jews who returned from the exile, Later Jews who lived after the exile and the Early Church who have gone through intense persecutions elevated the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead as if it was the most important of all biblical doctrines. This notion has made some scholars to think that the idea of resurrection emanated from the exilic periods simply because the Jewish people suffered. Using the ancient Israelites views on the conceptions of the soul together with their burial beliefs, this researcher argues that the ancient Israelites beliefs in the afterlife which evolved into the doctrine of resurrection were visible even before the exile. Certain beliefs and practices of the Israelites suggests that their beliefs in the resurrection of the dead pre-dates the exilic periods. The purpose of this research is to show traces of resurrection beliefs in ancient Israel before the exile and to argue that the persecution of the Jewish is not the only reason behind the development of the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead.

DOI 10.11648/j.hss.20150305.12
Published in Humanities and Social Sciences (Volume 3, Issue 5, September 2015)
Page(s) 169-176
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Afterlife, Body, Burial, Exile, Death, Life, Resurrection, Soul

References
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Author Information
  • School of Religion, Philosophy and Classics, University of Kwa-Zulu Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa

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    Jock Matthew Agai. (2015). Soul & Body: The Developments of the Ideology of Resurrection in Ancient Israel. Humanities and Social Sciences, 3(5), 169-176. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20150305.12

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    Jock Matthew Agai. Soul & Body: The Developments of the Ideology of Resurrection in Ancient Israel. Humanit. Soc. Sci. 2015, 3(5), 169-176. doi: 10.11648/j.hss.20150305.12

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    Jock Matthew Agai. Soul & Body: The Developments of the Ideology of Resurrection in Ancient Israel. Humanit Soc Sci. 2015;3(5):169-176. doi: 10.11648/j.hss.20150305.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.hss.20150305.12,
      author = {Jock Matthew Agai},
      title = {Soul & Body: The Developments of the Ideology of Resurrection in Ancient Israel},
      journal = {Humanities and Social Sciences},
      volume = {3},
      number = {5},
      pages = {169-176},
      doi = {10.11648/j.hss.20150305.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20150305.12},
      eprint = {https://download.sciencepg.com/pdf/10.11648.j.hss.20150305.12},
      abstract = {The Jews who returned from the exile, Later Jews who lived after the exile and the Early Church who have gone through intense persecutions elevated the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead as if it was the most important of all biblical doctrines. This notion has made some scholars to think that the idea of resurrection emanated from the exilic periods simply because the Jewish people suffered. Using the ancient Israelites views on the conceptions of the soul together with their burial beliefs, this researcher argues that the ancient Israelites beliefs in the afterlife which evolved into the doctrine of resurrection were visible even before the exile. Certain beliefs and practices of the Israelites suggests that their beliefs in the resurrection of the dead pre-dates the exilic periods. The purpose of this research is to show traces of resurrection beliefs in ancient Israel before the exile and to argue that the persecution of the Jewish is not the only reason behind the development of the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead.},
     year = {2015}
    }
    

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