Hi Nava, like @thistle notes, itâs such a wide-open topic that it could go in several directions. Regardless, it will stimulate lots of discussion because, inevitably, this will become a discussion about rebirth: Yes there is/No thereâs not
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Iâve done lots of study over the past ~35 years on the history of Christianity. (By its nature that requires some study on the history of Judaism.)
From what I can tell, there was never an early Christian version of âreincarnationâ per se. It wouldnât have made sense. Palestine circa 30 CE was a mixture of Greco/Roman and Judaic thought.
One can say broadly that neither tradition would have entertained a view that divine or celestial realms of existence and human ones were wholly bifurcated or separate. There was thought to be movement from one to the other, and vice versa; only the most important or acclaimed mortals and celestial beings could trace the process specifically. Sacrificial acts were executed to appease divine beings and obtain the associated benefits for the community at large.
The history of early Christianity, beginning with Paul of Tarsus and into the first few centuries, debated how (1) Jesus of Nazareth moved between the two realms and (2) how those âreborn in himâ took on his nature.
It was not really about a destination after death â everyday people assumed they would âmove onâ to something else. What if thereâs nothing else was not really a way of thinking in Palestine circa 30 CE. Neither was the concept of a renewed or repeated death based on ritual practice or kamma.
Later Christianity embraced the vision of a hellish realm as key to its theology. While this realm of existence was common to just about all axial age cosmologies, it took on special importance here. As western thought moved into the so-called Enlightenment, it became imperative for Christian theologians to rationalize an argument that every personâs soul (undefined) was destined for an eternity in hell without the solvent of âbelievingâ in the reconfigured savior.
Naturally, this was neatly systematized into a ârebirth in heavenâ battle cry for the individual âsoulâ who might be saved by the time of death.
Thatâs my understanding, anyway.