Round Trips to Heaven: Otherworldly Travelers in Early Judaism and Christianity

Currents in Theology and Mission, April, 2008 by Edgar Krentz

Leif Carlsson illuminates the conceptual world of 2 Cor 12:1-8 in Round Trips to Heaven: Otherworldly Travelers in Early Judaism and Christianity (Lund University Department of History and Anthropology of Religions, SEK 334) by carefully examining the relevant texts in 1 Enoch 14:8-16:3; 2 Enoch 3:1-35:3; Apocalypse of Abraham 15:1-29:21; Apocalypse of Zephaniah 5:1-12:8; Martyrdom and Ascension of Isaiah 6:1-11:43; the Life of Adam and Eve 35:1-42:2; and Third Baruch (he includes a Greek text and translation on pp.

356-72). These heavenly journeys have two functions: identity formation and death-informing. Paul's heavenly trip clearly was identity-forming but not death-informing. C. concentrates on parallels in early Judaism. He does not consider possibilities from the Greco-Roman side, e.g., in some Platonic myths, in Hermetic texts, or the so-called Mithras Liturgy. His work is valuable for what it covers but does not examine the entire range of possibilities. EK