Introduction

This is volume 44 in a series called New Studies in Biblical Theology and so is a scholarly book with lots of footnotes and an extensive bibliography. However, this does not mean it is difficult to read or that it is tackling an obscure subject. In fact, it gives a clear biblical perspective on many of the ultimate questions which should interest us all. What is death like? What follows, immediately and ultimately?

Some of the topics covered in the book will no doubt remain open for further debate but it is always good to find a thoughtful and thorough analysis which forms a sound basis for such discussions. The author is a lecturer in the Old Testament, Hebrew and Aramaic, but he is equally at home in the New Testament as well as with the cultures contemporary to biblical times, which also feature in this book.

Death – the ultimate separation?

The book comes in six long chapters but each of these is divided up into smaller sections, which help us to work through the study in a user-friendly manner. The first chapter asks After death, what? and considers death and the afterlife in various cultures and biblical perspectives including the contemporary evangelical debate.

What is man? How is he constituted? What is the soul and how does this compare with the spirit in a man? These are important as they determine what part of us continues after death and the nature of post-mortem existence.

Chapter two (Death – the ultimate separation?) starts to tackle some key questions. What is man? How is he constituted? What is the soul and how does this compare with the spirit in a man? These are important as they determine what part of us continues after death and the nature of post-mortem existence. This is traced through the Old Testament, intertestamental Judaism and the New Testament.

Resurrection, judgement, heaven & hell

Chapter three (Resurrection – the ultimate makeover?) again takes us through a chronological survey of this theme, and leads onto the next topic of Judgement (the ultimate verdict?). The remaining two chapters tackle Hell (the ultimate holocaust?) and Heaven (the ultimate destination?). The use of question marks at the end of each chapter title should not be taken to mean the author is offering doubts on these topics; rather that he is humble enough to realise that he won’t have provided the last word on much that he has been discussing.

The overall aim of the book could be summed up as enabling Christians to die well because they have learned to live with eternity in view and the promises that Christ’s death and resurrection have guaranteed for us. Here is a book to keep referring back to and thinking about. Highly commended.

'Death and the Afterlife’ (244pp) is published by IVP, and is available from Buuks for the reduced price of £7.64 (inc p&p).