Book review: Resurrection, Hell and the Afterlife: Body and Soul in Antiquity, Judaism and Early Christianity

On the basis of this re-evaluation, Finney then argues that Paul is ‘consistent within Second Temple Judaism’ and therefore ‘concerned essentially with the soul and not the body’ (4). [...]Paul ‘construes Jesus’ death as followed by his soul being raised from the dead and then up to heaven’ (114, 180). [...]in later texts as well as in Paul, the flesh is seen as evil in Jewish thought (49–50, 80–82, 113). [...]although eternally existing, it is only the soul that descends to Sheol where they are considered ‘dead’ (27). [...]is ‘the author thinking of physical attributes of a resurrected physical body or characteristics of the soul’ (62)? Since the resurrection of the soul is the dominant view in Judaism, Finney believes it makes better sense within that context and to understand that ‘what is received from God’ is the immortal existence of the soul (63). [...]given that Finney argues that the Graeco-Roman world would recognize the disappearance of a body with being made physically immortal (14, 138, 182), why does he not discuss the empty tomb narratives in Matthew and Mark, which are earlier than Luke and indicate something occurred to the body of Jesus?