Brill Encyclopedia of Early Christianity Online

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Immortality
(3,300 words)

Immortality refers to a person’s survival of bodily death and ability to gain eternal life. This religious idea of escaping mortality and hoping for immortality has a long and complicated history. Several aspects are found in the Bible and in early Christian literature.

Ancient Greco-Roman and Jewish Ideas of Immortality

Already in Homeric times, the souls of the dead were believed to surv…

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Somov, Alexey B., “Immortality”, in: Brill Encyclopedia of Early Christianity Online, General Editor David G. Hunter, Paul J.J. van Geest, Bert Jan Lietaert Peerbolte. Consulted online on 07 December 2023 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2589-7993_EECO_SIM_00001674>
First published online: 2018



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