Leven na de dood: het Nieuwe Testament als toetssteen voor enkele contemporaine opvattingen

Abstract

This article considers the question of the difference between NT documents and their contemporary religious and philosophical thought world on ‘life after death’. Consideration of only a few themes discloses that the NT differs widely from Hellenistic views, and that it is closely connected to some views in early Judaism as far as these stand in continuity with the OT. The NT view on ‘life after death’ stands far more on its own than the History of Religions School suggests. Modern thought on the ‘afterlife’ reveals that the NT is still relevant; theological methods should not blur its original message, nor biblical authority (OT and NT) be minimized.