Moment of reckoning : imagined death and its consequences in late ancient Christianity / Ellen Muehlberger.

9780190459185 (electronic book)

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2019.

English

1 online resource.

BT825 .M84 2019

236.109

Late antiquity saw a proliferation of Christian texts dwelling on the emotions and physical sensations of dying-not as a heroic martyr in a public square or a judge's court but as an individual, at home in a bed or in a private room. In sermons, letters, and ascetic traditions, late ancient Christians imagined the last minutes of life and the events that followed death in elaborate detail. This text traces how, in late ancient Christianity, death came to be thought of as a moment of reckoning: a physical ordeal whose pain is followed by an immediate judgment of one's actions by angels and demons and, after that, fitting punishment.

Late antiquity saw a proliferation of Christian texts dwelling on the emotions and physical sensations of dying-not as a heroic martyr in a public square or a judge's court but as an individual, at home in a bed or in a private room. In sermons, letters, and ascetic traditions, late ancient Christians imagined the last minutes of life and the events that followed death in elaborate detail. This text traces how, in late ancient Christianity, death came to be thought of as a moment of reckoning: a physical ordeal whose pain is followed by an immediate judgment of one's actions by angels and demons and, after that, fitting punishment.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

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Description based on online resource; title from home page (viewed on February 15, 2019).

Oxford scholarship online.

Print version: 9780190459161