Choice Review

Almond (Univ. of Queensland) has followed a succession of fine works in world religions with this elegant historical presentation of Christian eschatology of the English Enlightenment. Meticulously researched, the book successfully weaves a remarkable m'elange of views on the journey of the human body/soul/person complex into a coherent and highly readable narrative. Almond adopts the plan of Daniel Pickering Walker's The Decline of Hell (London, 1964) to construct his own map of the soul's journey from its creation at the world's beginning to its final destiny, and, in between, to describe views on the soul's "life" between death and reunion with the body on the last day; the contours of heaven and hell; and the last day and resurrection of the body as influenced by "the new science." On the way, one traverses an unusual and sometimes bizarre perceptual landscape of particular interest to cultural historians, philosophers of history, and historical theologians. This work is particularly valuable for its wealth of quotation from primary sources and its attempt (though all too occasional) to connect the views described with their social contexts. When Almond does advert to social context, one learns a great deal about how theological or philosophical images arise from, and so illuminate, their social matrix. One sees, e.g., how images of eternal retribution developed in tandem with England's penal system and how fantastical descriptions of suffering in the hereafter paralleled current social conditions. A carefully edited, well-bound book containing striking illustrations. End notes. Warmly recommended. Upper-division undergraduate; graduate; faculty. D. G. Schultenover; Creighton University