Yearning for Immortality
How our understanding of the ancient Egyptian afterlife was shaped by Christianity. Many of us are familiar with the ancient Egyptians’ obsession with immortality and the great efforts they made to secure the quality of their afterlife. But, as Rune Nyord shows, even today, our understanding o...
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| Format: | Online |
| Idioma: | anglès |
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University of Chicago Press
2025
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| Accés en línia: | https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/98954 |
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| _version_ | 1869518035657687040 |
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| author | Nyord, Rune |
| author_browse | Nyord, Rune |
| author_facet | Nyord, Rune |
| author_sort | Nyord, Rune |
| collection | Directory of Open Access Books |
| description | How our understanding of the ancient Egyptian afterlife was shaped by Christianity.
Many of us are familiar with the ancient Egyptians’ obsession with immortality and the great efforts they made to secure the quality of their afterlife. But, as Rune Nyord shows, even today, our understanding of the Egyptian afterlife has been formulated to a striking extent in Christian terms. Nyord argues that this is no accident, but rather the result of a long history of Europeans systematically retelling the religion of ancient Egypt to fit the framework of Christianity. The idea of ancient Egyptians believing in postmortem judgment with rewards and punishments in the afterlife was developed during the early modern period through biased interpretations that were construed without any detailed knowledge of ancient Egyptian religion, hieroglyphs, and sources.
As a growing number of Egyptian images and texts became available through the nineteenth century, these materials tended to be incorporated into existing narratives rather than being used to question them. Against this historical background, Nyord argues that we need to return to the indigenous sources and shake off the Christian expectations that continue to shape scholarly and popular thinking about the ancient Egyptian afterlife. |
| format | Online |
| id | doab-20.500.12854ir-153337 |
| institution | Directory of Open Access Books |
| language | eng |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publishDateRange | 2025 |
| publishDateSort | 2025 |
| publisher | University of Chicago Press |
| publisherStr | University of Chicago Press |
| record_format | ojs |
| spelling | doab-20.500.12854ir-1533372025-07-30T08:59:48Z Yearning for Immortality Nyord, Rune Christianity, European, religion, influence, ancient, Biased , Postmortem, judgment, Rewards, punishments, Early modern, Indigenous, sources, Christian , Systematic, retelling, Narratives, Texts, Images, Reshaping, Preconceptions, Reexamination, Worldview, Cultural, framework, Mythology, Beliefs, Perspectives, Colonialism, Decolonization thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHC Ancient history thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QR Religion and beliefs::QRS Ancient religions and Mythologies thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHC Ancient history thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QR Religion and beliefs::QRS Ancient religions and Mythologies How our understanding of the ancient Egyptian afterlife was shaped by Christianity. Many of us are familiar with the ancient Egyptians’ obsession with immortality and the great efforts they made to secure the quality of their afterlife. But, as Rune Nyord shows, even today, our understanding of the Egyptian afterlife has been formulated to a striking extent in Christian terms. Nyord argues that this is no accident, but rather the result of a long history of Europeans systematically retelling the religion of ancient Egypt to fit the framework of Christianity. The idea of ancient Egyptians believing in postmortem judgment with rewards and punishments in the afterlife was developed during the early modern period through biased interpretations that were construed without any detailed knowledge of ancient Egyptian religion, hieroglyphs, and sources. As a growing number of Egyptian images and texts became available through the nineteenth century, these materials tended to be incorporated into existing narratives rather than being used to question them. Against this historical background, Nyord argues that we need to return to the indigenous sources and shake off the Christian expectations that continue to shape scholarly and popular thinking about the ancient Egyptian afterlife. 2025-02-28T04:04:01Z 2025-02-28T04:04:01Z 2025-02-27T09:54:42Z 2025 book https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/98954 9780226838236 9780226838250 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/153337 eng open access image/png Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/98954/2/9780226838243.epub University of Chicago Press 10.7208/chicago/9780226838243.001.0001 10.7208/chicago/9780226838243.001.0001 decd55ad-cee8-4380-ad0e-0ead8a496f4d 9780226838236 9780226838250 316 open access |
| spellingShingle | Christianity, European, religion, influence, ancient, Biased , Postmortem, judgment, Rewards, punishments, Early modern, Indigenous, sources, Christian , Systematic, retelling, Narratives, Texts, Images, Reshaping, Preconceptions, Reexamination, Worldview, Cultural, framework, Mythology, Beliefs, Perspectives, Colonialism, Decolonization thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHC Ancient history thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QR Religion and beliefs::QRS Ancient religions and Mythologies thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHC Ancient history thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QR Religion and beliefs::QRS Ancient religions and Mythologies Nyord, Rune Yearning for Immortality |
| title | Yearning for Immortality |
| title_full | Yearning for Immortality |
| title_fullStr | Yearning for Immortality |
| title_full_unstemmed | Yearning for Immortality |
| title_short | Yearning for Immortality |
| title_sort | yearning for immortality |
| topic | Christianity, European, religion, influence, ancient, Biased , Postmortem, judgment, Rewards, punishments, Early modern, Indigenous, sources, Christian , Systematic, retelling, Narratives, Texts, Images, Reshaping, Preconceptions, Reexamination, Worldview, Cultural, framework, Mythology, Beliefs, Perspectives, Colonialism, Decolonization thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHC Ancient history thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QR Religion and beliefs::QRS Ancient religions and Mythologies thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHC Ancient history thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QR Religion and beliefs::QRS Ancient religions and Mythologies |
| topic_facet | Christianity, European, religion, influence, ancient, Biased , Postmortem, judgment, Rewards, punishments, Early modern, Indigenous, sources, Christian , Systematic, retelling, Narratives, Texts, Images, Reshaping, Preconceptions, Reexamination, Worldview, Cultural, framework, Mythology, Beliefs, Perspectives, Colonialism, Decolonization thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHC Ancient history thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QR Religion and beliefs::QRS Ancient religions and Mythologies thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHC Ancient history thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QR Religion and beliefs::QRS Ancient religions and Mythologies |
| url | https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/98954 |
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