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Book Cover for: A New Heaven: Death, Human Destiny, and the Kingdom of God, Harvey Cox

A New Heaven: Death, Human Destiny, and the Kingdom of God

Harvey Cox

Harvey Cox is one of America's most widely read public theologians. In many bestselling books he has written on religion and faith for a wide general audience. In his new book he explores the question that underlies all religion: What is the point of life that ends in death? What are the different ways we think about the afterlife? What are we actually talking about when we talk about heaven, what do such thoughts about life after death mean for life on earth? Cox reminds the reader that the subject of heaven is not a preoccupation in the Gospels. Jesus, after all, was concerned primarily with the Kingdom of God--the call to renew the present world in response to the promise of God's love and justice. The process by which this concern deviated toward a preoccupation with "life after death" and "going to heaven" are among the topics covered here. But along the way, Cox draws on personal stories, including an account of his youthful work as an assistant to his undertaker uncle; surveys approaches to death in antiquity and in other cultures and religions, and reflections; and offers reflections, as he passes the age of 90, on his own mortality.

Book Details

  • Publisher: Orbis Books
  • Publish Date: May 10th, 2022
  • Pages: 312
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 8.40in - 5.60in - 0.90in - 1.05lb
  • EAN: 9781626984585
  • Categories: Christian Theology - EschatologyChristianity - General

About the Author

Harvey Cox is an ordained minister in the American Baptist Church. He served for many years as Hollis Professor of Divinity at Harvard Divinity School until his retirement in 2009. His first book, The Secular City (1965), became an international bestseller. This was followed by over a dozen other titles, including Feast of Fools; The Seduction of the Spirit The Use and Misuse of People's Religion; Turning East: Why Americans Look to the Orient for Spirituality-And What That Search Can Mean to the West; Many Mansions: A Christian's Encounters with Other Religions; Fire From Heaven: The Rise of Pentecostal Spirituality and the Reshaping of Religion in the Twenty-First Century; Common Prayers: Faith, Family, and a Christian's Journey Through the Jewish Year; The Silencing of Leonardo Boff: The Vatican and the Future of World Christianity; When Jesus Came to Harvard: Making Moral Choices Today and The Future of Faith. His most recent titles are How to Read the Bible (2015) and The Market as God (2016). A Harvey Cox Reader (Orbis Books) appeared in 2016.

Praise for this book

"A book, with the legendary Harvey Cox wisdom on full display, eloquently written to change the way people think and believe, live and die."--James Carroll, author, The Truth at the Heart of the Lie