Historical Studies (Chinese Edition)

No.5, 2014

 

Transcend Death: Thanatopsis of the Ancient Jews and Its Historical Evolution

(Abstract)

 

Lin Zhongze

 

The ancient Jews considered life as a series of ties forged between man and God, with death as the end of the ties. The Jews chose to overcome individual vulnerability by national collectivism: they regarded individuals as a link between their ancestors and descendants and, through the strong connection between family and religious groups, relieved the anxiety and worries generated by the fear of death. The Jews also developed the concepts of ghost and the infernal from holism. The ghost represented the low moments of life and would disappear with the collapse of human body, while the infernal was a temporary resting place for the ghost, which was unable to bring any real impact on people’s lives and therefore fundamentally eradicated the foundation on which the worship of the dead developed. In addition, certain connections between holism and the Jewish burial custom are confirmed in Biblical documents. As Hellenistic civilization heavily seeped in, diversions began to occur in the Jewish society. As a result, a philosophy of afterlife featured by resurrection, judgment, paradise and hell became popular among religious intellects and ordinary citizens. The philosophy on one hand originated from the established Jewish tradition, and, on the other, benefited from the ideology of the neighboring countries.