Death and Immortality: Towards a Global Synthesis

Abstract

Belief in life after death is one of the things almost all religions have in common. J. G. Frazer’s research in the last century showed that it was simply taken for granted by the adherents of the primal religions,’ while in the major world faiths it forms an essential part of their belief structure. In Christianity, and Islam, belief in a future hope is a natural consequence of their belief in an all-powerful creator who has fashioned human beings for an eternal destiny with him. In Hinduism and Buddhism the belief in Karma requires the concept of a succession of lives as its necessary condition. Hence it seems reasonable to claim that the most widespread religions unite in affirming that this present existence does not constitute the whole of reality, and that human life should be seen in a cosmic perspective. The same is also true of Judaism, Sikhism, Zoroastrianism and most of the so-called ‘new religions’. It is only for purposes of convenience that I confine my attention to four major traditions.