On 12th June 2021, in a live stream presentation for the Catholic Biblical Association of Great Britain, lecturer in Sacred Scripture at St Patrick’s College and Pontifical University, Maynooth, Fr Jeremy Corley, spoke about ‘Afterlife Hope before the New Testament’. Fr Jeremy explored how belief in the afterlife developed in the last two centuries before Christ. He noted that the Bible gives ample evidence of developing and changing views.
The text of Job 19 ‘I know that my Redeemer lives’ provided a starting point for the enquiry. In chapter 14 of Job the writer proclaims ‘there is always hope for a tree’. Even when felled it can sprout, and when parched it can be revived by a shower. Conversely there seems to be no hope for human beings. As exploration of texts from Job, Ben Sira and Qoheleth shows, these writers have no clear hope of afterlife.
It is against the background of the persecution of Judaism by Antiochus Epiphanes, and the Maccabean revolt, that faith in the resurrection arises, and is expressed in the Book of Daniel, the apocryphal 1 Enoch, and especially in 2 Maccabees. The Book of Wisdom presents afterlife belief as trusting in immortality.
After a wide-ranging presentation Fr Jeremy tackled a variety of questions from those who attended a fascinating talk.