Beginning Book 3

Book 3 of McLaren's trilogy begins to focus on the concept of hell and at least in the beginning, sets up to trace the development of thought concernign hell. For Christians, when we search the Old Testament, you have the concept of sheol, which is a Hebrew term that connotes a resting place for the dead and not some place where bad souls experience eternal torment. As I read more of book 3 and reconcile it again with what I teach in my history and cultures class, it is interesting that other ancient civilizations and religions have some precursors to the after life: the Mesopotamians and the Egyptians certainly begin to develop some thought as to what the afterlife looks like. Certainly the Zoroastrians introduce some of the concepts that we are familiar with in our practice of Christianity- good vs evil, a monotheism with an evil force also at work, the idea of a final judgment, the idea of free will, etc. But these all predate the birth of Jesus and really predate the Christian notion of hell, at least as we understand it. So did we borrow these ideas? Add onto these concepts? Christianize them and make them our own? Does Jesus have this as a backdrop when he introduces the idea of hell? Is Jesus thinking of something else? I am sure these questions and more will be posed in my reading of book 3, but I am certainly curious. Good stuff indeed.