Includes bibliographical references (p. 783-831) and index.

Introduction : the undiscover'd country -- 1. Egypt -- 2. Mesopotamia and canaan -- 3. The first temple period in Israel -- 4. Iranian views of the afterlife and ascent to the heavens -- 5. Greek and classical views of life after death and ascent to the heavens -- 6. Second temple judaism : the rise of a beatific afterlife in the Bible -- 7. Apocalypticism and millenarianism : the social backgrounds to the martyrdoms in Daniel and Qumran -- 8. Religiously interpreted states of consciousness : prophecy, self-consciousness, and life after death -- 9. Sectarian life in new testament times -- 10. Paul's vision of the afterlife -- 11. The gospels in contrast to Paul's writings -- 12. The pseudepigraphic literature -- 13. The church fathers and their opponents -- 14. The early rabbis -- 15. Islam and the afterlife : Muslim, Christian, and Jewish fundamentalism -- Afterword : immortal longings.