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As in ancient culture in general, death in early Christianity appears as an anthropological constant and as the last threat to human life. Death can be understood as a termination of all (human) relationships; however, the belief in the resurrection of Jesus Christ decisively changed the perspective of the first Christians toward death.The New Testament uses the Greek term θάνατος (“death”) to denote the end of physical life and the corresponding verb, ἀποθνῄσκω (“to die”). The one who died is called a “dead man” (νεκρός); the dead body is also referred to by the term σῶμα/ s ō ma. If the d…

The idea of the “kingdom of God” (Gk βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ/ basileia tou theou) is a fundamental theological conception that was current in the Jewish culture of the 1st century CE and that could therefore be evoked by means of this keyword. This early Jewish conception was taken up and employed by Jesus and his early followers. It became prominent in the narratives of Jesus (Christ, Jesus, 01: Survey) in the Gospels.Scholars discuss how the Greek syntagma βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ should be translated. The semantic spectrum of βασιλεία includes both a geographical-static…