The Death of Death

by Neil Gillman

Does death end life, or is it the passage from one stage of life to another? In The Death of Death, noted theologian Neil Gillman offers readers an original and compelling argument that Judaism, a religion often thought to pay little attention to the afterlife, not only presents us with rich ideas on this subject―but delivers a deathblow to death itself. Combining astute scholarship with keen historical, theological and liturgical insights, Gillman outlines the evolution of Jewish thought about bodily resurrection and spiritual immortality. Beginning with the near-silence of the Bible on the afterlife, he traces the development of these two doctrines through Jewish history. He also describes why today, somewhat surprisingly, more contemporary Jewish scholars―including Gillman―have unabashedly reaffirmed the notion of bodily resurrection. In this innovative and personal synthesis, Gillman creates a strikingly modern statement on resurrection and immortality. The Death of Death gives new and fascinating life to an ancient debate. This new work is an intellectual and spiritual milestone for all of us interested in the meaning of life, as well as the meaning of death.

Genres: Judaism, Jewish, Religion, Theology, Death, Spirituality, Nonfiction

324 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1997

Reviews

[Dennis Fischman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am not a philosopher or a theologian, and the Judaism I live every day doesn't need a clear concept of what happens when we die. In fact, I'm in tune with the strand of the Jewish tradition which actively discourages speculation on the topic. So, this book was an eye-opener for me. It shows that over time, Jews have answered the question "What happens when we die?" In many different ways.

In the TaNaCh, or Hebrew bible, you can find passages that imply we simply cease to exist, and passages that refer to a shadowy continued existence in an underworld (but nothing like the Hades of Greek myth or the Hell of Christian lore).

Later, you start to see two ideas, bodily resurrection and spiritual immortality, that coexist in various ways. At different times, different Jewish thinkers have believed:

1. We die and the breath of life leaves our bodies, but God will blow it back into us at the end of days and we will live again. (No mention of a soul)

2. Our bodies die, but our souls live on, closer or farther from God's glory, as we deserve. (No mention of resurrection)

3. We die and are immediately "resurrected" as souls, perhaps with some body-like qualities like personality, and we live forever in that manner. (In other words, immortality IS the way we come back to life.)

4. Our bodies die, and our souls are reincarnated.

5. Our bodies die, and "sparks" of our souls show up along with sparks of other souls in a new body and a new life.

6. The only immortality we have, or need, is in the influence and the memories we leave behind.

I find I personally believe in aspects of #3 and #6. But "believe" here means I trust, and I'm willing to live my life as if they were true--not that I am making any statements about the facts. I think that's what Gillman means by calling these beliefs "mythical." What matters is not the evidence for them but the ability they give us to order our chaotic lives in a meaningful way.

I would rate the book higher than the 3.5 stars I am assigning to it if it were more accessible to readers who don't know Jewish texts and Jewish history as well as I do. Even if you don't. It may be worth your while. It's a very smart and intellectually honest account of a topic that's not widely discussed.

[David Bradley]

I originally picked up this book to see if I could scavenge some information about Jewish ideas about the resurrection leading up to the time of Christ as part of my research for a paper on Jesus' interaction with the Sadducees in Mark 12. It grabbed my attention, and although it took a long time, I eventually got around to reading the whole thing. Although I found Gillman's personal conclusion to be fairly uncompelling (as well as confusing), his overview of the evolution of thoughts on personal eschatology over the course of Jewish history was quite thorough and intriguing. I learned a lot about the religion that I was pretty unaware of before, and it definitely also got me thinking more deeply about the Christian understanding of the topic.

[Doug · Rating 3 out of 5]

Isn't it odd how little the Old Testament cares about heaven? I picked this book up to help get some perspective on that question. It confirmed that only three or four OT passages speak of a future resurrection and fewer to none speak about the future state of heaven. My question isn't about the existence of heaven. I have no problem with that. My question is about the huge change in subject we assume the NT makes. Protestants, especially, assume that the gospel and the book of Romans are all and only about getting into heaven. We think Scripture and especially Paul are concerned only with that question. But that question never seems to cross the prophets' minds. For example, Isaiah seems to make no connections between salvation/redemption and a future state of heaven before God (see Is. 59 for example). At the same time, the apostle Paul repeatedly cites Isaiah in Romans, and we automatically assume that Paul is constantly talking about heaven-before-God throughout Romans (even New Perspective types like NT Wright still assume a lot of heaven). But what if Paul isn't? What if Paul doesn't care about heaven the way Isaiah doesn't? Instead of assuming Romans is talking about how to get into heaven, try it as an exercise to "assume Isaiah" and no concern for heaven, unless Paul makes a clear and explicit change in subject. Romans becomes a completely different book. It actually becomes like Habakkuk, the book it opens with (Habakkuk also doesn't care about heaven).

[Mich · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is fascinating in that most people did not know that there is no mention in the Chumash of th concept of the dead shall live again or be resurrected. The author reviews the two sources in the Old Testament (Daniel and Isaiah) which do acknowledge G-d's power for resurrection. The concept can be traced to around 150 BCE where the contrasting views of the Pharisees, The Essenes, and the Saducees regarding resurrection were recited. The Essenes only believed in the soul being immortal, while the Saducees believed that neither body nor soul would be revived after death and the Pharisees who were the surviving Talmudists believed that both are immortal. What is different about the Jewish belief which became firmly implanted in prayers (particularly the Amidah) and the requirement that Jews must believe in a world to come is that resurrection applies to all people while Christianity only cited Jesus's resurrection. There have been differing degrees of belief among Jews over time (what is surprising is that most of Jewish dogma relates to practices while relatively little mandates beliefs) is that at some points Jews believed in the soul's immortality,as opposed to the body's and then changed back. The reform prayer book maintains the original Hebrew but the English translation simply states, "Gives life to all" rather than "Gives life to the dead".

[Shira · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought this book on a whim when I was in a hyperfocus vortex about the afterlife for some reason. I think I bought this book while trying to shower off Life After Death: The Evidence (you can read my review of that one too), like I literally searched something like "jewish afterlife" and Amazon gave me two books and I picked this one, which was probably the wrong choice. And now of course I can't find the other one I was interested in, and Amazon's giving me different search results. Oh well. (Note - after I wrote this review I spent some time googling and pretty sure I found it - it's Thirteen Petalled Rose - Hebrew / Shloshah Asar Aley HaShoshanah)

I really didn't like the author's tone. The last time I felt like this about an author's tone was Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less (feel free to read my harsh review of that one). Anyway, I bought this book because, during a timeframe when I was consuming a lot of generalized afterlife content, I was really interested in underlying afterlife belief systems in Judaism because I am Jewish. This book felt like it was just trying to crap all over those belief systems. Perhaps I should have known from the title... though I wouldn't have really guessed anyway because I don't view the word "Death" the way the author apparently does. "Death" to the author means in an atheist sense; worm food. So author's hypothesis is that this was Judaism's original view of death - no afterlife at all. The whole book appeared to discredit any subsequent eschatology (a new word I learned in my afterlife reading binge). Which meant that I couldn't enjoy reading about such eschatology in this book.

Anyway, if you are a Jewish atheist you will likely enjoy this book.

[Jeremy Manuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

What happens when we die? It's a question that I think many people wrestle with. As a Christian I know that Christians seem to be rather fixated on the topic and present their beliefs often with a certainty that makes me uncomfortable. So when I saw this book years back that presented Jewish thought on the resurrection and the afterlife I was intrigued.

I really enjoyed the book's look at Jewish thought through the history on this topic. To see how the idea of resurrection and what happens after you die was developed over the years was interesting to see. It was interesting to see how the tug of Jewish thought and Greek thought has influenced Jewish theology over the years.

While I felt the book was fairly accessible, it is geared more towards those who are familiar with Jewish thought. I was able to follow well enough because the book was written in an attempt to be accessible to a fairly wide audience, but even then I wasn't very familiar with the names and divisions found in Judaism.

I also appreciated the honest look at the idea of an afterlife and resurrection. It is not a book that tries to peddle a certain specific view, even with the author giving his own thoughts on the issue in the last chapter. I felt that overall I really enjoyed his take on resurrection and afterlife much more than I tend to when I hear Christians talk about the afterlife/resurrection.

While it is slightly academic I still enjoyed my time with the book. I didn't realize that resurrection had gone through such development in Judaism, so it was interesting to see how a particular theological concept developed in another religious tradition close to my own. It definitely isn't a book I can see everyone enjoying a lot, but I thought it was a good look at the subject matter.

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book written based off of facts and not feelings and an essential resource when studying any of the Abrahamic faiths. I'm thinking some of the negative reviews of this work have some soul searching to do because the evidence doesn't seem to match their pagan influenced beLIEfs. What do you label a person that mixes religions to make themselves feel better?

At the end of life nobody knows for sure what happens to us. What's that quote; "honour those that seek the truth but beware of those that claim they found it."
Live your best life!

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stuff they didn’t teach you in Sunday school. Seriously, ask your average Jew what Judaism has to say about the afterlife, and they’ll tell you we don’t talk about it much at all, and we focus on this life. True enough. But the sages actually have had a lot to say on the topic (and don’t all agree). Rabbi Gillman (ז״צל) traces the evolution of Jewish thinking on these questions from scripture to modern times. Scholarly, but accessible to the lay reader, without excessive jargon.

[Daniel Block · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book threw me into an existential/theological crisis and i’m so grateful for it. It taught me so much about Jewish eschatology, which i’ve always felt was neglected in my religious upbringing. At times the book was a bit “inside baseball”, but still loved it throughout. I highly recommend this to anyone curious about resurrection and death in Jewish thought.

[Charles Cohen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this because I had a specific question, and then I was frustrated that I didn't get the answer to my questions. But I got answers to a whole bunch of other questions I didn't know to ask. This was a really useful, rich scan of Jewish philosophy about the afterlife. And a great reminder that Maimonides is WILD. That dude was a madman.

[Sam Fredrickson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably the best book I’ve read all year. Rabbi Gillman does an excellent job of laying out the historical development of the doctrine of Resurrection and contrasting it with the belief in Spiritual Immortality, then examines the efficacy of the two in a mythic framework. Highly recommend!

[Chana Ceasar]

Prompt #41 in challenge

[Willium · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredible look into the nature of death from a scholarly judaic framework!

[Larry Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

excellent historical and theological reference

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great and erudite chronological excursion into Jewish thought on resurrection and afterlife from the biblical times until the present.