''Heaven and Hell'' () is an 1865 book by
Allan Kardec
Hippolyte Léon Denizard Rivail (; 3 October 1804 – 31 March 1869), known by the pen name of Allan Kardec (), was a French educator, translator, and writer. He is the author of the five books known as the Spiritist Codification, and the foun ...
, the fourth tome of the fundamental works of
Spiritism
Spiritism may refer to:
Religion
* Espiritismo, a Latin American and Caribbean belief that evolved and less evolved spirits can affect health, luck and other aspects of human life
* Kardecist spiritism, a new religious movement established in ...
. Its name was intentionally taken from a previous book by
Emanuel Swedenborg
Emanuel Swedenborg (; ; born Emanuel Swedberg; (29 January 168829 March 1772) was a Swedish polymath; scientist, engineer, astronomer, anatomist, Christian theologian, philosopher, and mysticism, mystic. He became best known for his book on the ...
, it was also subtitled "Divine Justice According to Spiritism".
It is divided into two parts named "The Doctrine" and "The Examples".
The first part explains the different view Spiritism has on the subject, stating that both "
Heaven
Heaven, or the Heavens, is a common Religious cosmology, religious cosmological or supernatural place where beings such as deity, deities, angels, souls, saints, or Veneration of the dead, venerated ancestors are said to originate, be throne, ...
" (happiness in the afterlife) and "
Hell
In religion and folklore, hell is a location or state in the afterlife in which souls are subjected to punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history sometimes depict hells as eternal destinations, such as Christianity and I ...
" (punishment in the afterlife) are misconcepts, that the state of the spirits after their death is not definitive and that there is always hope, even for the crudest criminal. This is also where Kardec explains in detail why and how "good people" are doomed to suffer and why one should not take one's own life.
The second part is a series of interviews with spirits of deceased people, thus exemplifying the working truth of the doctrine previously detailed. Most of the examples cited are of people now long-forgotten and have become quite useless. The books are most cherished, however, for the profound morality expressed in the first part.
''Heaven and Hell'' is the second most popular book among the Fundamental Works of Spiritism.
See also
*
Spiritism
Spiritism may refer to:
Religion
* Espiritismo, a Latin American and Caribbean belief that evolved and less evolved spirits can affect health, luck and other aspects of human life
* Kardecist spiritism, a new religious movement established in ...
*''
The Spirits' Book''
*''
The Gospel According to Spiritism''
*''
The Genesis According to Spiritism
''The Genesis, Miracles and Premonition According to Spiritism'' (''La Genèse, les Miracles et les Preditions selon le Spiritisme'' in the original French) was the last book published (1868) by Allan Kardec, just before his death. It tries to re ...
''
*''
The Book on Mediums
''The Book on Mediums'' or ''Mediums and Evokers' Handbook'' (a.k.a. ''The Mediums' Book'' —''Le Livre des Médiums'', in French), is a book by Allan Kardec published in 1861, second of the five Fundamental Works of Spiritism — the philos ...
''
External links
''Heaven and Hell''by Allan Kardec From Archive.org (PDF file, use Adobe Reader)
''Heaven and Hell''by Allan Kardec (PDF File, Ebook)
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Kardecist spiritism
Books about spirituality