Heaven and Hell in Enlightenment England [Hardcover]

This book examines life after death and changing concepts of heaven and hell in English thought from 1650 to 1750.This book examines life after death and changing concepts of heaven and hell in English thought from 1650 to 1750. It explores seventeenth- and eighteenth-century images of the journey of body and soul. It discloses a society in which frail and fleeting human life was lived out in the expectation of salvation or damnation.This book examines life after death and changing concepts of heaven and hell in English thought from 1650 to 1750. It explores seventeenth- and eighteenth-century images of the journey of body and soul. It discloses a society in which frail and fleeting human life was lived out in the expectation of salvation or damnation.This book offers the first full account of life after death and the changing concepts of heaven and hell in English thought from 1650-1750. It explores seventeenth and eighteenth century images of the journey of body and soul from Platonist accounts of preexistence, to the intermediate state between death and the Last Day, to the Final Judgment and beyond into heaven or hell. It discloses a society radically different from our own, in which frail and fleeting human life was lived out in the expectation of salvation or damnation, eternal happiness or torment.Introduction; 1. The journey of the soul; 2. From the hour of death to the day of judgement; 3. The contours of heaven and hell; 4. The last day; 5. Eternal torments; Notes; Bibliography; Index. Utopian scholars will find an interesting account here of judgement day, which throws light on millenarian thought throughout this period....this book offers insights into a crucial period of development in modern religious thinking. Utopian Studies ...draws perceptively from the publications of theologians, philosophers, and religious writers of many denominational and philosophical persuations to present a nuanced historical account of their debates over the nature oflj