Universal resurrection
General resurrection or universal resurrection is the belief in a resurrection of the dead, or resurrection from the dead (Koine: ἀνάστασις [τῶν] νεκρῶν, anastasis [ton] nekron; literally: "standing up again of the dead"[1]) by which most or all people who have died would be resurrected (brought back to life). Various forms of this concept can be found in Christian, Islamic, Jewish, Samaritan and Zoroastrian eschatology.
"Resurrection of the dead" redirects here. For other uses, see Resurrection from the dead (disambiguation).
There are three explicit examples in the Hebrew Bible of people being resurrected from the dead:
While there was no belief in personal afterlife with reward or punishment in Judaism before 200 BCE,[2] in later Judaism and Samaritanism it is believed that the God of Israel will one day give teḥiyyat ha-metim ("life to the dead") to the righteous during the Messianic Age, and they will live forever in the world to come (Olam Ha-Ba).[3] Jews today base this belief on the Book of Isaiah (Yeshayahu), Book of Ezekiel (Yeḥez'qel), and Book of Daniel (Dani'el). Samaritans base it solely on a passage called the Haazinu in the Samaritan Pentateuch, since they accept only the Torah and reject the rest of the Hebrew Bible.
During the Second Temple period, Judaism developed a diversity of beliefs concerning the resurrection. The concept of resurrection of the physical body is found in 2 Maccabees, according to which it will happen through recreation of the flesh.[4] Resurrection of the dead also appears in detail in the extra-canonical books of Enoch,[5] in the Apocalypse of Baruch,[6] and 2 Esdras. According to the British scholar in ancient Judaism Philip R. Davies, there is "little or no clear reference ... either to immortality or to resurrection from the dead" in the Dead Sea scrolls texts.[7] Both Josephus and the New Testament record that the Sadducees did not believe in an afterlife,[8] but the sources vary on the beliefs of the Pharisees. The New Testament claims that the Pharisees believed in the resurrection, but does not specify whether this included the flesh or not.[9] According to Josephus, who himself was a Pharisee, the Pharisees held that only the soul was immortal and the souls of good people will be reincarnated and "pass into other bodies," while "the souls of the wicked will suffer eternal punishment."[10] Paul the Apostle, who also was a Pharisee,[11] said that at the resurrection what is "sown as a natural body is raised a spiritual body."[12] Jubilees refers only to the resurrection of the soul, or to a more general idea of an immortal soul.[13] The Second Temple Judaism tradition at Qumran held that there would be a resurrection of just and unjust, but of the very good and very bad,[14] and of Jews only.[15][16] The extent of the resurrection in 2 Baruch and 4 Ezra is debated by scholars.[17][18][19]
The resurrection of the dead is a core belief in the Mishnah which was assembled in the early centuries of the Christian era.[20] The belief in resurrection is expressed on all occasions in the Jewish liturgy; e.g., in the morning prayer Elohai Neshamah, in the Shemoneh 'Esreh and in the funeral services.[21] Jewish halakhic authority Maimonides set down his Thirteen Articles of Faith which have ever since been printed in all Rabbinic Siddur (prayer books). Resurrection is the thirteenth principle: "I firmly believe that there will take place a revival of the dead at a time which will please the Creator, blessed be His name."[22] Modern Orthodox Judaism holds belief in the resurrection of the dead to be one of the cardinal principles of Rabbinic Judaism.
Harry Sysling, in his 1996 study of Teḥiyyat Ha-Metim in the Palestinian Targumim, identifies a consistent usage of the term "second death" in texts from the Second Temple period and early rabbinical writings, but not in the Hebrew Bible.[23] "Second death" is identified with judgment, followed by resurrection from Gehinnom ("Gehenna") at the Last Day.[24]
Modern Commentaries[edit]
The difference between belief in resurrection of the flesh and resurrection of the soul was discussed by Oswald Spengler in the second volume of his Decline of the West books. According to him, resurrection of the flesh was a characteristic symbol of the magian high culture, which includes early Christianity, Judaism and Islam. The validity of this classification is contested by contemporary scholars.