I have become deeply interested in the question of whether Jesus thought that people should be considered equally and treated as equals, and that has led to my ponderings on Jesus’ view of the afterlife for those who are “saved.” Will everyone in the future kingdom of God be treated equally? That made me reflect on the fact that there is a longstanding view within the Christian tradition that says: definitely not.
This view of differentiated afterlives is portrayed most emphatically in one of the most popular and influential portrayals of the realms of the blessed and the damned referenced in my previous post, the Apocalypse of Paul. This is a fictional narrative of a personal tour granted to the apostle, which attempts to explain Paul’s claim in 2 Corinthians 12:1-4 that he was taken up to “the third heaven” and shown things that he is not to reveal. The fourth or fifth century author of the Apocalypse of Paul, claiming himself to be Paul, decided to reveal what “he” (allegedly Paul) actually saw. That runs precisely contrary to what Paul says he was allowed to do, but ages of Christians were pleased that he brought himself to do so any way. The book was widely read in the Middle Ages and influenced the great Dante himself.
As I indicated in my previous post, one of its obvious sources was the
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