THE DEAD STUDIES OF JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN APOCALYPSE BY RICHARD BAUCKHAM - Book Report/Review Example

The existence if the underworld is addressed in the book by borrowing from other concepts that have been used in the world. The understanding of what happens after death has been the focus of the various religions and myths. Several books are produced with the purpose of critically analyzing the different beliefs and traditions practiced around the world. The belief in apocalypse exists in almost all religion with the focus being on what happens after death(p.23). The book by Richard Baulkham entitled: The Fate of the Dead: Studies on the Jewish and Christian Apocalypses tackles issues of death and the comparative beliefs of the jews and Christians.

These concepts are similar despite the difference in the storyline. “The descents to the underworld are common in the myths and traditions of many cultures”(p.45). The descents are attributed to gods and heroes. The major focus of the story is on the attitude of the heroes in relation to the loss of the loved ones in death. Some stories indicating heroic behavior such as the descending to Hades to get their loved ones back. Additionally the myths on various issues in the underworld have been developed to handle the perception of death.

The author demonstrates his points by offering a comparison with of the two religious concepts of life after death. The use of both the bible and other Jewish book is a testament of the demonstration of the authors points of reason. Death in the bible has been treated inconsistently. Even though, the bible addressed death as the end of physical life. The story of the central figures in the bible such as Moses Miriam and Abraham is mentioned in relation to the physical death (p. 234). The description of Sheol in the bible is available not the book of Numbers 30, 33.

In the description of death, the description of Sheol is given as a region dark and deep or a pit. Other description used in describing Sheol as a “land of forgetfulness” or an area where the dead are and are