The Origin, Evolution, and Cross‑Civilizational Comparison of the Concepts of Heaven and Hell
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Heaven and hell are significant cultural symbols through which humanity explains the afterlife and embodies ethical notions of reward and punishment for good and evil. They are not pre‑existing, fixed concepts, but rather composite cultural constructs shaped by cross‑civilizational exchanges, the iterative evolution of religious thought, and literary‑artistic reinterpretation. This paper traces the origins and development of the concepts of heaven and hell, examines the systematic construction of the afterlife in Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, compares the underworld myths of ancient Greece and Rome with the Samsaric systems of India and China, and analyzes the common origins and fundamental divergences between Eastern and Western conceptions of the afterlife. The study demonstrates that the core idea of post‑mortem judgment and dichotomous reward‑punishment was inspired by Persian Zoroastrian dualism, transmitted to Jewish civilization during the Persian imperial period, developed through the Second Temple period, and subsequently became the foundational basis for the afterlife theology of the Abrahamic religions. Literary works such as Dante's Divine Comedy further shaped the secular imagery of heaven and hell. Meanwhile, the Eastern cycle of reincarnation, originating from Indian Buddhism, represents an independent line of development, while the Chinese celestial court and underworld system emerged from the integration of Buddhist frameworks with indigenous Daoism and folk beliefs, fundamentally differing from the Western model of ``eternal destination.'' In essence, the concepts of heaven and hell served as cultural instruments for ancient societies to construct moral order and address existential anxiety, and their modern significance lies in reminding every generation of the necessity of moral accountability.
Authors: Jiao Jiao, A Ni Su, Liu, Hong-sheng
Language: English
Subfield: Philosophy
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7204098812