A review of "Pagan Ideas On Immortality During the Early Roman Empire"
This is a short and relatively uninteresting lecture,
held in 1918, on Greek and Roman beliefs in the afterlife. Somewhat
confusingly, the Kindle edition dates the lecture to 2017! The lecturer,
Clifford Herschel Moore, discusses Orphism, Platonism, Stoicism and the mystery
cults. He begins with an overview of the Aeneid, Virgil's masterpiece in
support of Emperor Augustus.
It's obvious from the lecture that many pagans believed in the immortality of the soul, a blessed afterlife for the morally upright, hellish punishments for the really debased evil-doers, and a prolonged period of purgatory and/or reincarnation for the majority. The lecturer believes that this created a fertile ground for Christianity. Many pagan ideas could, and were, adapted by the Christian Church for its own ends (others were of course rejected). Ideas of Hell and purgatory are particularly obvious points of intersection. So is the notion that there is a moral order in the universe.
In the end, however, I don't think this little pamphlet is worth more than three stars. Competent summary of some key points, but that is all.
It's obvious from the lecture that many pagans believed in the immortality of the soul, a blessed afterlife for the morally upright, hellish punishments for the really debased evil-doers, and a prolonged period of purgatory and/or reincarnation for the majority. The lecturer believes that this created a fertile ground for Christianity. Many pagan ideas could, and were, adapted by the Christian Church for its own ends (others were of course rejected). Ideas of Hell and purgatory are particularly obvious points of intersection. So is the notion that there is a moral order in the universe.
In the end, however, I don't think this little pamphlet is worth more than three stars. Competent summary of some key points, but that is all.
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