The belief in an afterlife is ancient and existed before modern humans.
"Even Neanderthals buried their dead with rituals and gifts in the grave. The fact that objects are found placed in graves is the strongest indication of a belief in an afterlife," says Dag Endsjø, a historian of religion and professor emeritus from the University of Oslo.
The gifts in the grave were meant to be used by the deceased in their next existence.
The oldest written sources, from Mesopotamian, Israelite, and Greek religions, describe a bleak existence for the dead.
"The soul continues as dead in an eternally depressing existence," says Endsjø.
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A dull underworld without God
This is described in the Old Testament.
"It says that the dead go to an underworld where nothing happens. God is not there either," says Anne de Hemmer Gudme
She is a professor at the University of Oslo's Faculty of Theology.
In the Book of Psalms, a dying person laments. If God still wants him as a faithful worshipper, he must act now – before he ends up in the underworld.
"Because then it will be too late. The dead were beyond God's reach," says Gudme.
Life after death before Jesus
Anne de Hemmer Gudme explains that the idea of an afterlife emerged in Judaism around 300 years before Jesus was born.
"The idea developed and gained more and more traction," says Gudme.
The concept of eternal life appears in the Second Book of Maccabees from 100 BCE. This book was not included in the Protestant Bible but are part of the Catholic and Orthodox Bibles.
Anne de Hemmer Gudme at the University of Oslo researches the Old Testament.(Photo: Nina Kristiansen)
A king had conquered Jerusalem and banned the Jewish religion. Seven brothers and their mother were arrested and tortured because they refused to eat pork. They were killed one by one. Before they died, the brothers said that God had promised to resurrect them to eternal life.
"This belief is vastly different from the idea of a boring underworld," says Gudme.
Tempted with whole bodies
In ancient Greek religion, humans could become like gods.
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"Some fortunate, specially chosen heroes became physically immortal and became like the gods. However, this transformation depended on their physical bodies remaining intact before the change occurred," explains Endsjø.
Dag Endsjø at the University of Oslo has written a book about Greek religions and why Christianity became a success in Greek culture.(Photo: Private)
When the Gospels were written, Christians claimed that all humans could be resurrected with their whole bodies intact – just like Jesus and the Greek heroes. Unlike in Greek tradition, having an undamaged body before death was not a requirement. God would recover whatever remained.
"In doing so, Christianity fulfilled the Greek longing for physical immortality, something their own gods would not grant them," he says.
Vague descriptions of heaven
Jesus and the New Testament do not provide a detailed description of what life after death looks like.
"When Jesus talks about the kingdom of heaven, it's incredibly vague. We don't get a clear picture of how it's structured," says Gudme.
The belief in resurrection and eternal life is a fundamental part of the Christian faith, according to Torstein Try, associate professor at Ansgar University College.
He quotes Jesus from the Gospel of John 11:25-26: 'I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, even if they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.'
Revelation 21:4 gives further insight into what this means for believers: 'He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed.'
A government in heaven
Some Christian denominations have a clear idea of how the afterlife is organised. Unlike Gudme, they find answers in the Old Testament.
Jehovah's Witnesses do not see the Kingdom of God as something abstract or symbolic, according to spokesman Jørgen Pedersen.
"The Bible shows us that the Kingdom of God is a real government that rules from heaven and will one day take control over the earth to bring true peace," says Pedersen. He refers to the Book of Daniel in the Old Testament.
However, not all Christians will go to heaven.
144,000 chosen ones
"Just as not all citizens of a country can be in the government, God has chosen a small group of 144,000 people to rule as kings alongside Jesus Christ. They will govern the earth from heaven," Pedersen explains to sciencenorway.no, referring to the Book of Revelation in the New Testament.
Believers who are not among the chosen can still have a good afterlife.
"We believe it's a misunderstanding that all good people go to heaven. The Bible clearly shows that there's hope of living eternally on earth under perfect conditions," says Pedersen.
Gardens and rivers
In Islam, too, descriptions of paradise are very concrete.
At-Tawbah 9:72 states: 'Allah has promised the believing men and believing women gardens beneath which rivers flow, wherein they abide eternally.'
"The belief in an afterlife and final judgment is central in Islam," says Torstein Try.
Torstein Try is an associate professor in intercultural studies.(Photo: Ansgar University College)
The Quran describes in detail how God will judge each person based on their actions.
"Life on earth is seen as preparation for eternal life in either paradise or hell," he says.
The focus is on the present
Some religions do not have a concept of life after death.
"In certain traditions, such as Confucianism, little emphasis is placed on the afterlife. The focus is more on living an ethical and harmonious life in the present," explains Try.
Buddhism and Hinduism also do not view life and death as a one-time event followed by eternal existence. Instead, they believe in reincarnation.
Human or hungry ghost
"For most Buddhists, death involves being reborn into a new existence. If you have performed many good deeds, you're reborn into a favourable realm, often as a human. If you have committed many bad deeds, you may be reborn as a hungry spirit or suffer in hell," says Iselin Frydenlund.
She is a professor at MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society.
Buddhism also offers a form of salvation – liberation from the cycle of rebirth. This is called nirvana, which means 'extinction' or 'blowing out.'
However, Buddha did not give a direct answer to what nirvana truly is.
Princess or glimpses of energy
In Hinduism, liberation from rebirth is seen as the soul's union with Brahman, the eternal force of the universe. This is not the case in Buddhism.
"Buddha rejected the idea that humans have a soul. He saw it as something invented through language. What truly exists is the human mind," explains Frydenlund.
Buddhists have different perspectives on rebirth.
"At the lowest level, they believe they have a soul that is reborn. These Buddhists might, for instance, claim they were a princess in a past life. But Buddha considered this a mistaken way of thinking," says Frydenlund.
At the highest level, one understands that everything consists of collections
of energy glimpses. According to Buddha, these glimpses are rearranged in new ways as one transitions from one
existence to another.
"A certain consciousness follows, but not a soul.
And whether the new form is positive or negative depends on
one's past actions – karma," says Frydenlund.
Iselin Frydenlund is a professor at MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society.(Photo: Nina Kristiansen)
Total liberation and insight
The ultimate goal for Buddhists is to break free from the cycle of
rebirth.
Only a few achieve this liberation – nirvana – while they are alive. Buddha himself
reached nirvana at the age of 40 but lived until he was 80. This is because there are actually two types of nirvana.
Nirvana in life is a mental state of total liberation and insight. When someone has achieved nirvana and the physical body dies, it's called parinirvana. However, it's not a physical place or destination," says Frydenlund.
Different religions have varied concepts of what happens after death.
Modern eternal life
"There are notions that people return after death, as ghosts or even as partially decayed resurrected corpses. This is not seen as desirable," says Dag Endsjø from the University of Oslo.
He believes such notions have modern equivalents.
"Today, many are sceptical about the possibility that medicine might one day make humans physically immortal. From a purely resource-based perspective, this would make it difficult for new generations to exist," he explains.
He also notes that different beliefs about the afterlife often coexist within religious communities.
Same faith, different afterlives
For example, the official Christian doctrine still holds that the body will rise again, but in practice, many believers have replaced this idea with the belief that the soul will live eternally in heaven.
"Many identify as Christians without believing in any afterlife, while studies show that others – paradoxically – believe in both heaven and reincarnation," says Endsjø.
In Judaism, some believe in a future resurrection, whether of the soul or body in some form. Others believe there is no afterlife at all, focusing instead on ensuring that their people continue to thrive.
"In Hinduism and Buddhism, reincarnation has a negative aspect. This is rarely the case in Western beliefs about reincarnation, especially among many new religious movements," he says.
Endsjø believes that ideas about the afterlife have served both as a response to the irreversibility of death and as a tool for those in power.
"Those in power can use the promise of a better afterlife to encourage people to behave in certain ways," he says.
