The Influence of the Fear of Death on Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity

As far back as we have literary reports -- beginning with the Epic of Gilgamesh, our earliest surviving narrative, written centuries before the oldest accounts of the Bible -- humans have feared death more than almost anything.

Many people fear the process of dying; others fear facing eternal torment; yet others fear the void, the idea of non-existence.

In this episode we talk about ancient reflections on death and about why some stalwart souls insisted that in fact there was nothing to fear.