The Encyclopedia of World Religions

heaven S 195

tute for the word G OD . This usage is also found in the gospel of Matthew. In Hinduism various gods dwell in heavens; in Mahayana Buddhism B UD DHAS and BODHISATTVAS dwell there, too. G NOSTICISM taught that EVIL archons ruled the seven planetary spheres. Far above them at a virtually inaccessible distance was the realm of the unknown God, a realm of goodness and light. In some religions heaven directs human actions. C ONFUCIANISM did not say much about what heaven was, but it did teach that people were to follow the “way of heaven.” More broadly, Chinese rulers claimed to rule by the “mandate of heaven.” Heaven can also be a source of justice. In the sacred books known as the V EDA , the sky-god Varuna looks down from heaven with his thousand eyes and notes whether people do good or evil. According to the image dominant in North America, heaven is a place to which people go after they die. This kind of heaven is not limited to Christianity. Hindus, Buddhists, and Jains see the various heavens as places where people whose actions in life have been especially good—who have very good KARMA —are reborn after death ( see J AINISM ). P URE L AND B UDDHISM gets its name from the heaven that the Buddha A MIDA has created in the distant west. Those who rely upon him are reborn into the Pure Land and enjoy its delights until one day all sentient or conscious beings will enter enlightenment together. In Z OROASTRIANISM , Christianity, and I SLAM heaven is the abode of those who are found wor thy at the final judgment. The three religions have used different metaphors to describe this wondrous place. The book of R EVELATION refers to it as a new J ERUSALEM and describes it as a wondrously jew eled city. The Q UR ’ AN often refers to it as a garden, which contrasts starkly with the desert climate in which Islam arose. Rivers supply the garden with abundant water, plants grow luxuriantly, and celestial beings cater to the whims of those who are found worthy of heaven. The particular vision of heaven seems to fulfill a given people’s aspira tions after utopia. At the same time, heaven is not limited to some far off place. It also provides ideals on which

have become very popular in some circles. Twelve step recovery programs are effective in countering alcoholism and other conditions; they have a sig nificant religious component. Those who practice scientific medicine have also often recognized the important role that spiritual well-being plays in healing physical and mental illness. Further reading: Mircea Eliade, Shamanism (New York: Pantheon, 1964); David Harrell, All Things Are Possible: The Healing and Charismatic Revivals in Modern America (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1975); Morton Kelsey, Healing and Christianity (New York: Harper & Row, 1973); Thomas G. Plante and Allen C. Sherman, eds., Faith and Health: Psychological Perspectives (New York: Guilford, 2001). Sometimes heaven simply refers to the region above the atmosphere. Most religions have some thing to say about this region. What they have to say differs tremendously. The beginning of the book of Genesis talks about the sky as the firma ment that holds back the “waters above.” Reli gions in the Mediterranean region around the time of J ESUS often talked about several different lay ers of heaven, one atop the other. These were the spheres of the planets, of the sun and the moon, and of the fixed stars. Ancient Mesoamericans seem to have conceived of the layers of heaven as the different levels through which the sun ascends and descends during the day ( see M AYA RELIGION ). H INDUISM and B UDDHISM have described any num ber of heavenly worlds. These often have little, if anything, to do with what can be seen in the sky. However religions conceive of heaven, they usually associate special beings with it. In ancient Egypt the sky was itself a GODDESS , the goddess Nut ( see E GYPTIAN RELIGION ). Jews of the Second Temple period occasionally used “heaven” as a substi heaven A realm above the earth. Traditional C HRISTIANITY conceives of heaven as a realm where the redeemed go after either death or the final judg ment. This image is the dominant one in North America.