Afterlife in Early Christian Carthage

Stephen E. Potthoff is Associate Professor of Peace Studies, Religion, and Philosophy at Wilmington College, Ohio, USA. His research focuses on early Christianity and other ancient religions, as well as Native American spirituality and culture, dreams, and near-death visionary experience.

• AcknowledgmentsList of FiguresIntroductionChapter 1: Rebirthing Paradise in the Sacred Space of Vision and CemeteryChapter 2: Ghosts, Graveside Dining, and Dreams of Paradise: Mediterranean Ancestor Cult in the Early Christian PeriodChapter 3: Mediterranean Ancestor Cult in Carthage: Hungry Ghosts and the Roman Cemetery as Other WorldChapter 4: Dining, Divining, and Divorcing the Dead: The Age of Tertullian and PerpetuaChapter 5: The Age of Cyprian: Burial Clubs and Banquets in ParadiseChapter 6: The Age of Augustine: Burial ad sanctos, Graveside Parties, and the Abodes of Body and Soul after DeathChapter 7: Christian Burial ad sanctos at Carthage: Pressing on to Heaven in the Paradisal Realm of the CemeteryChapter 8: Refreshment and Reunion in the Garden of Light: Sculpting Paradise at the GraveConclusionBibliographyIndex

A rich, interdisciplinary study, The Afterlife in Early Christian Carthage is an important read for anyone interested in the development of Christianity in the late Roman Empire. As Stephen Pothoff shows us, paradoxically, it is through the examination of death – its ubiquity and attendant rituals, the need to mourn and bury the dead, the creation of cemeteries and cemeterial churches – that third-century North African Christianity comes alive. The author walks us into the thought-worlds of these Christians – their dreams, aspirations, and sure knowledge of what awaited them after death – through his careful study of their literature, epitaphs, material culture, and the archaeology they left behind, unlocking new worlds for us to explore.-Professor Nicola Denzey Lewis, Brown University, USA