From the 1620s to the present, Americans have displayed a keen interest in life after death. The sermons and books of seventeenth‐century Puritans, eighteenth‐century theologian Jonathan Edwards, nineteenth‐century revivalist Dwight L. Moody, twentieth‐century evangelist Billy Graham, the recent novels of Mitch Albom and Alice Sebold, and hundreds of other accounts have provided competing conceptions of heaven and of how people can get there. While evangelicals have analyzed these topics the most, mainline Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Mormons, spiritualists, New Agers, and numerous others hav ... More

From the 1620s to the present, Americans have displayed a keen interest in life after death. The sermons and books of seventeenth‐century Puritans, eighteenth‐century theologian Jonathan Edwards, nineteenth‐century revivalist Dwight L. Moody, twentieth‐century evangelist Billy Graham, the recent novels of Mitch Albom and Alice Sebold, and hundreds of other accounts have provided competing conceptions of heaven and of how people can get there. While evangelicals have analyzed these topics the most, mainline Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Mormons, spiritualists, New Agers, and numerous others have also offered portraits of heaven and discussed its entrance requirements. Understanding American views of heaven (and hell) requires examining works of art, music, sociology, psychology, folklore, liturgies, sermons, poetry, fiction, near‐death experiences, diaries, letters, devotional books, and systematic theologies. Artists, musicians, social scientists, philosophers, theologians, pastors, evangelists, and novelists have all portrayed the nature of heaven, depicted its marvels, debated the prerequisites for admission, or analyzed Americans' beliefs about the afterlife. The way most Americans picture heaven and salvation is based in part upon their specific religious traditions—Protestant, Catholic, Mormon, Jewish, or Muslim. However, it is also usually closely connected to the features of life people have valued most in the different eras in which they have lived. Americans have generally seen heaven as the most ideal and desirable place they can imagine. While their interpretation of sacred scripture strongly shapes many people's understanding of heaven, their desires and personal life experiences have also significantly influenced their conception of paradise.