Entering heaven alive
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The concept of entering heaven alive (called by various religions "ascension", "assumption", or "translation") is a belief held by multiple religions and traditions. Since death is generally considered the normal end to an individual's life on Earth, entering Heaven without dying first is considered exceptional and usually a sign of God's special recognition of the individual's piety.
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Fictional portrayals
- In C. S. Lewis's That Hideous Strength, those who ascended to heaven alive included Melchizedek, Frederick Barbarossa, King Arthur and Elwin Ransom.
- In C. S. Lewis's The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Reepicheep the Mouse is permitted to travel into Aslan's Country while alive. He is next seen in The Last Battle where he is the first to greet the protagonists when they arrive at Aslan's Country.
- In J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium, Elves who grow weary of life in Middle-earth may sail west to the Undying Lands. A few mortals also follow this route, including Eärendil, the Ring-bearers Bilbo Baggins, Frodo Baggins, and Sam Gamgee, and the Dwarf Gimli.
- In the fictional universe of the Stargate franchise, the Ancients, have learned how to ascend and have moved on to a higher plane of existence.
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Entering heaven alive" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
