The Death of Death: Resurrection and Immortality in Jewish Thought

In a masterful survey of Jewish attitudes toward the concepts of resurrection and immortality, Gillman, who teaches Jewish philosophy at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, defies the common notion that Judaism is a religion that fails to address the afterlife. Gillman traces Judaic ideas of resurrection and immortality from their earliest formations through the medieval and modern eras to today. In the process, he discusses Psalms, the book of Daniel, Maimonides, Moses Mendelssohn, Martin Buber and contemporary Jewish thinkers like leading Reform rabbi Eugene Borowitz. Gillman demonstrates that the ideas of resurrection and immortality were introduced into Judaism as early as the fifth century B.C. and that debates about the existence of an afterlife in Judaism have often revolved around whether or not afterlife involves a resurrection of the physical body or the immortality of the soul. Gillman concludes from his study of biblical and historical texts that bodily resurrection will occur at the ""end of days"" and that through this resurrection ""God will banish death forever."" Gillman's lucid exposition offers valuable insights into the history of Jewish theology. (June)