Beyond: How Humankind Thinks About Heaven

by Catherine Wolff

Overview

“Beautifully written, expertly researched and masterfully presented, this tour of how heaven has been understood throughout history is absolutely fascinating.” —James Martin, SJ, author of Jesus: A Pilgrimage

A smart and thought-provoking cultural history of heaven.

What do we think of when we think about heaven? What might it look like? Who or what might be there?

Since humans began to huddle together for protection thousands of years ago, these questions have been part of how civilizations and cultures define heaven, the good place beyond this one. From Christianity to Islam to Hinduism and beyond, from the brush of Michelangelo to the pen of Dante, people across millennia have tried to explain and describe heaven in ways that are distinctive and analogous, unique and universal.
 
In this engrossing cultural history of heaven, Catherine Wolff delves into how people and cultures have defined heaven over the centuries. She describes how different faiths and religions have framed it, how the sense of heaven has evolved, and how nonreligious influences have affected it, from the Enlightenment to the increasingly nonreligious views of heaven today. Wolff looks deep into the accounts of heaven to discover what’s common among them and what makes each conception distinct and memorable. The result is Beyond, an engaging, thoughtful exploration of an idea that is central to our humanity and our desire to define an existence beyond death.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781594634451
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	05/25/2021
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	1,091,396
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Catherine Wolff is a writer, editor, and former director of The Arrupe Center for Community Based Learning at Santa Clara University. She edited the collection Not Less Than Everything: Catholic Writers on Heroes of Conscience from Joan of Arc to Oscar Romero. She lives in Northern California with her husband, Tobias Wolff, close to their three grown children and three grandchildren.

Table of Contents

Introduction: At the Horizon of the Known xv

Part I In the Beginning

Chapter 1 Seek and Ye Shall Find 3

Chapter 2 Origins 11

Chapter 3 The Sacred Fire 16

Part II Ancient Religions

Chapter 4 An Imagined World 29

Chapter 5 The Realm of Endless Light 36

Chapter 6 As Though It Were a Dream 42

Part III Judaism

Chapter 7 The Eternal Covenant 53

Chapter 8 No Eye Has Seen It 62

Chapter 9 The Gates of the Imagination 70

Chapter 10 Today 78

Part IV Christianity

Chapter 11 Jesus on Earth 87

Chapter 12 Staying Alert 94

Chapter 13 Augustine's Visions 103

Chapter 14 Many Heavens 113

Chapter 15 They Had Love Always 122

Chapter 16 Predestination for Glory 136

Chapter 17 Eternal Progress 150

Chapter 18 God's New Creation 161

Part V Islam

Chapter 19 The Path to the Afterlife 169

Chapter 20 Companions of the Garden 176

Chapter 21 The Goal of You All Is Allah 187

Chapter 22 For God to Decide 193

Part VI Hinduism and Buddhism

Looking East 205

Chapter 23 Life after Life after Life 209

Chapter 24 Gone to God 217

Chapter 25 The Path to Enlightenment 225

Chapter 26 The Clear Light 237

Chapter 27 If We Could Only Awaken 244

Part VII We Shall Not Cease from Exploration

Chapter 28 Voices from Beyond 253

Chapter 29 The Beyond Within 259

Chapter 30 Beyond Time-Space 266

Chapter 31 The Vastly Alerted Mind 273

Chapter 32 The Universe Awakening 282

Chapter 33 At the End of All Our Exploring 290

Afterword: Death Is the Mother of Beauty 301

Acknowledgments 305

Notes 307

Bibliography 323

Illustration Credits 328

Index 329

Editorial Reviews

03/29/2021

Therapist Wolff (Not Less Than Everything) delivers an elegant if scattered study of the afterlife in this wide-ranging survey. Wolff charts a roughly chronological course from Mesopotamian mythology to contemporary spiritualist thought and along the way introduces readers to Buddhist conceptions of nirvana and enlightenment, Christian beliefs on heaven and damnation, the Hindu cosmos of worlds, Jewish writings on a “Promised Land flowing with milk and honey,” Muslim visions of a “lush” and “sensual paradise,” and many other conceptions of afterlives. Some beliefs merit entire chapters; others—notably Indigenous religions—warrant a paragraph or two. While Wolff provides numerous anecdotes (such as a high-tech New Age retreat in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains), these granular stories cannot overcome the oversimplifications and inconsistencies. For instance, having previously declared that “none of us has ever met anybody who has returned from heaven with a verifiable report,” Wolff concludes by describing an “ultimate inn” where “we’ll be surrounded by our family and friends from earth, and some we’ve just met from the communion of saints.” Spiritualists of any stripe will find much to ponder. (May)

Publishers Weekly

2021-03-17
A broad survey of global and historical views of the post-life spiritual realm.

In this vast overview, writer and therapist Wolff wades deep into the murky waters of heaven, the afterlife, and unseen planes of being. The sweeping narrative—designed for lay readers, some of whom may be overwhelmed by its scope—introduces countless intriguing concepts, from near-death experiences to reincarnation. With eloquent reporting on various cultures and faiths, the author presents her work as “a history of hope” and an examination of “the ongoing collective exercise of the human imagination.” Wolff begins with the prehistoric evidence for belief in what may be termed the afterlife, or at least a world beyond the present, physical one. She then moves on to ancient religions, focusing not only on doctrines of life after death (most famously in ancient Egypt), but also on poetic views of the world of the dead, as captured in such works as the Odysseyand the Aeneid. Moving on to Judaism, Wolff admirably captures the ambiguity involved in Jewish teachings on the afterlife. This sets up her lengthy, detailed examination of Christianity, as she tracks views on the afterlife through religious figures (Paul, Augustine, Julian of Norwich, Swedenborg, etc.) and artists and writers (Dante, Blake, Bunyan), all against the backdrop of the proliferation of significant religious movements such as the Reformation. In the educative section on Islam, Wolff notes how Allah is “an all-powerful and transcendent but also an interested god, concerned with humans, capable of acting in history with mercy and justice.” Hinduism and Buddhism share a section, in which the author demonstrates that whereas the liberal West views all religions as heading toward a common end (a tranquil afterlife), Eastern religions can have thoroughly different concepts of what that final end may look like. The concluding section, “We Shall Not Cease From Exploration,” looks to the future of our unceasing search for meaning.

A soulful, far-reaching primer on what lies beyond.

Kirkus Reviews

Praise for Beyond by Catherine Wolff:
 
“[F]ull of absorbing detail…Ms. Wolff writes with clarity and style, and she attempts to understand each conception of heaven, however distant from her own Roman Catholic belief, on its own terms.” —Wall Street Journal

“Beautifully curated…a reassuring guide for the spiritually curious." —America Magazine
 
"Beautifully written, expertly researched and masterfully presented, this tour of how heaven has been understood throughout history is absolutely fascinating." —James Martin, SJ, author of Jesus: A Pilgrimage

“With exquisite care, Catherine Wolff plumbs the human longing for a transcendent world, the perennial ground of incredible imaginings. This fine book - crossing boundaries of history and culture, time and belief - puts the question with power: Is the longing for some ‘beyond’ a mere projection, or is it an inbuilt promise? Whatever else readers make of Catherine Wolff’s exhaustive survey of other worlds, they will come away from this celebration of an unflagging human hope more firmly rooted in the world we have, this heaven on earth.” —James Carroll, author of The Truth at the Heart of the Lie and An American Requiem

“I'm very, very impressed by Beyond—so beautifully researched, comprehensive, learned, and friendly in its presentation. It's the finest overall book on the afterlife that I have ever read.” —Ron Hansen, author of Hotly in Pursuit of the Real and Mariette in Ecstasy

“This spirited inquiry into the intriguing enigma of life after life is a revelation, moving deftly from ancient religious systems into modern secular attempts to pierce the mystery of what comes after.  This seemingly otherworldly business proves to be our most enduring earthly preoccupation, binding us together across ages and cultures.  The study of heaven, Catherine Wolff proves in her clear-eyed, grounded prose, is the most human thing about us.” —Patricia Hamp, author of The Art of the Wasted Day
 
“Within this slim book, there is a capaciousness of soul.  You don’t have to be a believer (which I decidedly am not) to admire the erudition and fine feeling Catherine Wolff brings to human musings and longings regarding the great beyond.” —Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, author of Plato at the Googleplex
 
“Wolff's sprawling book could almost function as a world religions text . . . [A]n enlightening read for those curious about what may happen after we die, whether they're people of faith or not.” —Booklist

“With eloquent reporting on various cultures and faiths, the author presents her work as ‘a history of hope’… A soulful, far-reaching primer on what lies beyond.” —Kirkus

"Elegant…wide-ranging...spiritualists of any stripe will find much to ponder.” —Publisher's Weekly

From the Publisher