The Judgment of the Dead: The Idea of Life After Death in the Major Religions

by Samuel George Frederick Brandon

The judgment of the dead - the idea that a life after death and the nature of that life will be determined by the individual's moral conduct while on earth-is one of the most remarkable and significant beliefs of mankind. The belief first emerged in ancient Egypt about 2400 B.C. where it found its most elaborate expression. This work is the first comprehensive study in English of this important and fascinating subject.

Genres: Religion

300 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1967

Reviews

[Michael Crofford · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've always been curious about the concept of eschatology. I grew up without religion, and haven't really been influenced by contemporary Christian teachings. I always found the concept of resurrection contrasted with the notion of the soul as very confusing. My sense is that these are different concepts that in time became fused together. My goal in reading Brandon's book is to get a clearer sense of these two concepts.

The author focuses on the origins of judgment as found in the major belief systems (Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Hebrew, Greco-Roman, Christian, Islam, Iran, Hindu/Buddhist, Chinese, and Japanese). As one might expect the Christian, and Greco-Roman sections were the longest.

A few takeaways for me included the idea that the idea of the judgement of the dead possibly came from the need to solve the problems of theodicy (at least in the Judeo-Christian tradition). The author writes

"the concept of a just and omnipotent God demanded an eschatology which promised that the justice of his dealing with individual men and women would be vindicated after death, since too often it was not demonstrated in this life." (63)

The Christianity section also addressed some of my original question. Namely, the author touches on the problem that early Christians had which was basically if Jesus is coming soon then what about the poor folks who already died...what happens to them?...or what about the great people of the past such as Adam himself? The author discusses how this concern lead to the concept of purgatory as well as Jesus's supposed trip to Hell to rescue them.

The author briefly touches on metempsychosis - or the transmigration of the soul in the Graeco-Roman section. In particular he writes

"Among the more notable of these ideas of post-mortem judgement we may notice what seems to have been the belief of the neo-Pythatgorean sect that built the underground basilica, near the Porta Magiore, at Rome. The members of this community, which flourised during the first century AD, conceived of salvation as the ascent of the soul into the Aether, its true and original home." (92)

I'd like to learn more about this, and will be seeking out some other works.

Overall, I think this book is a pretty good introduction. In reading about the 500 B.C.E-500C.E time frame, I feel like I'm starting to get a sketch of how the eschatological beliefs of the time have shaped the seemingly illogical and confusing beliefs that people have today.

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent mid-century introduction to the topic. What stands out is the massive achievement of the Egyptians in balancing the search for both God & morality in the afterlife. Also, interesting to see how similar Chinese, Tibetan, & Hindu obsessive visions of "the sufferings of the damned" are to the Christian "dooms."