From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Paradise (Old
East Iranian:
pairidaeza) is a place in which existence is positive, harmonious and timeless. It is conceptually a counter-image of the miseries of human
civilization, and in paradise there is only
peace, prosperity, and happiness. Paradise is a place of contentment, but it is not necessarily a land of luxury and idleness. It is often used in the same context as that of
utopia.
Paradisaical notions are cross-cultural, often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical or eschatological or both. In eschatological contexts, paradise is imagined as an abode of the virtuous dead. In Christian and Islamic understanding
heaven is a paradisaical relief, evident for example in the
Gospel of Luke when
Jesus tells a
penitent criminal crucified alongside him that they will be together in paradise. In Native American beliefs, the other-world is an eternal hunting ground. In old Egyptian beliefs, the other-world is
Aaru, the reed-fields of ideal hunting and fishing grounds where the dead lived after judgment. For the Celts, it was the
Fortunate Isle of
Mag Mell. For the classical Greeks, the
Elysian fields was a paradisaical land of plenty where the heroic and righteous dead hoped to spend eternity. The
Vedic Indians held that the physical body was destroyed by fire but recreated and reunited in the
Third Heaven in a state of bliss. In the Zoroastrian
Avesta, the "Best Existence" and the "House of Song" are places of the righteous dead. On the other hand, in cosmological contexts 'paradise' describes the world before it was tainted by evil. So for example, the
Abrahamic faiths associate paradise with the
Garden of Eden, that is, the perfect state of the world prior to the fall from grace.
The concept is a topos' in art and literature, particularly of the pre-
Enlightenment era, a well-known representative of which is
John Milton's
Paradise Lost. A paradise should not be confused with a
utopia, which is an alternate society.
[edit] Etymology and Semasiology
The word "paradise" entered English from the
French paradis, inherited from the
Latin paradisus, from
Greek parádeisos (
παράδεισος), and ultimately from an
Old Iranian root, attested in
Avestan as
pairi.daêza-.
[1] The literal meaning of this Eastern Old Iranian language word is "walled (enclosure)",
[1] from
pairi- "around" +
-diz "to create, make". The word is not attested in other Old Iranian languages (these may however be hypothetically reconstructed, for example as
Old Persian *paridayda-).
By the 6th/5th century BCE, the Old Iranian word had been adopted as
Akkadian pardesu and
Elamite partetas "domain". It subsequently came to indicate walled estates, especially the carefully tended royal parks and
menageries. The term eventually appeared in Greek as
ho parádeisos "park for animals" in the
Anabasis of the early 4th century BCE Athenian gentleman-scholar
Xenophon.
Aramaic pardaysa similarly reflects "royal park".
Hebrew
pardes appears thrice in the
Tanakh; in the
Song of Solomon 4:13,
Ecclesiastes 2:5 and
Nehemiah 2:8. In those contexts it could be interpreted as a park, a garden or an orchard. In the 3rd-1st century BCE
Septuagint, Greek
parádeisos was used to translate both Hebrew
pardes and Hebrew
gan, "garden": it is from this usage that the use of "paradise" to refer to the
Garden of Eden derives. This usage also appears in
Arabic and the
Koran itself as
firdaws.
The idea of a walled enclosure was not preserved in most Iranian usage, and generally came to refer to a plantation or other cultivated area, not necessarily walled. For example, the Old Iranian word survives in New Persian
pālīz (or "jālīz"), which denotes a vegetable patch.
[edit] Religious use
[edit] Judaism
In the
Old Testament, the word 'Pardes' (a transliteration of the Persian word) occurs in Song 4:13, Eccl.2:5, and Neh. 2:8 meaning 'park', the original Persian meaning of the word, similar to the description of the parks of
Cyrus the Great by
Xenophon in
Anabasis.
In
Second Temple era Judaism 'paradise' came to be associated with the
Garden of Eden and prophesies of restoration of Eden. The
Septuagint uses the word around 30 times, both of Eden, (Gen.2:7 etc.) and of Eden restored (Ezek. 28:13, 36:35) etc. In the Jewish
pseudepigrapha use of paradise varies. In the
Apocalypse of Moses Adam and Eve are expelled from paradise after having been tricked by the serpent. Later after the death of Adam, the
Archangel Michael carries the body of Adam to be buried in Paradise which is the
Third Heaven.
Later in Rabbinical Judaism the word 'Pardes' recurs, but less often in the Second Temple context of Eden or restored Eden. Tosefta
Hagigah14b uses the word of the veil around mystic philosophy.
[2]
The
Zohar[citation needed] gives the word a mystical interpretation, and associates it with the four kinds of Biblical exegesis:
peshat (literal meaning),
remez (allusion),
derash (anagogical), and
sod (mystic). The initial letters of those four words then form
פָּרְדֵּס –
p(a)rd(e)s, which was in turn felt to represent the fourfold interpretation of the
Torah (in which
sod – the mystical interpretation – ranks highest).
[edit] Christianity
In the New Testament,
paradise occurs three times:
- Luke 23:43 - by Jesus on the cross, in response to the thief's request that Jesus remember him when he came in his kingdom.
- 2 Cor.12:4 - in Paul's description of a man's description of a third heaven paradise, which may in fact be a vision Paul himself saw.
- Rev.2:7 - in a reference to the Gen.2:8 paradise and the tree of life
In early Christianity it was often connected to a paradise restored on Earth (Matthew chapter 5, verse 5 -
the meek shall inherit the earth), similar to what the
Garden of Eden was meant to be. Some early sects actually attempted to recreate the garden of Eden, e.g. the nudist
Adamites.
In the 2nd century AD,
Irenaeus distinguished paradise from heaven. In
Against Heresies, he wrote that only those deemed worthy would inherit a home in heaven, while others would enjoy paradise, and the rest live in the restored Jerusalem.
Origen likewise distinguished paradise from heaven, describing paradise as the earthly "school" for souls of the righteous dead, preparing them for their ascent through the celestial spheres to heaven.
[3]
Tension between these two competing Christian views of paradise may be responsible for a textual difference in one of the three New Testament verses using the word, Luke 23:43. For example the two early
Syriac versions translate Luke 23:43 differently. The
Curetonian Gospels read "Today I tell you that you will be with me in paradise", whereas the
Sinaitic Palimpsest reads "I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise". Likewise the two earliest Greek codices with punctuation disagree:
Codex Vaticanus has a pause mark in the original ink after 'today', whereas
Codex Alexandrinus has the "today in paradise" reading. Today almost all translations follow the "today in Paradise", although there is some support among classical Greek scholars for the reading "today that"
[4]
In Christian art
Fra Angelico's
Last Judgement painting shows Paradise on its left side. There is a tree of life (and another tree) and a
circle dance of liberated
souls. In the middle is a hole. In Muslim art it similarly indicates the presence of the Prophet or divine beings. It visually says, 'Those here cannot be depicted.'
[edit] Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses believe that God's purpose from the start, was and is, to have the earth filled with the offspring of
Adam and Eve as caretakers of a global paradise. After God had magnificently designed this earth for human habitation, however, Adam and Eve rebelled against
Jehovah and so they were banished from the Garden of Eden, or Paradise. Jehovah's Witnesses also believe that the wicked people will be destroyed at
Armageddon and that many of the righteous (those faithful and obedient to Jehovah) will live eternally in an earthly Paradise. (Psalms 37:9, 10, 29; Prov. 2:21, 22). Joining the survivors will be resurrected righteous and unrighteous people who died prior to Armageddon (John 5:28, 29; Acts 24:15). The latter are brought back because they paid for their sins by their death, and/or also because they lacked opportunity to learn of Jehovah's requirements prior to dying (Rom. 6:23). These will be judged on the basis of their post-resurrection obedience to instructions revealed in new "scrolls" (Rev. 20:12). This provision does not apply to those that Jehovah deems to have sinned against his holy spirit (Matt. 12:31, Luke 12:5).
[5][6]
One of Jesus' last recorded statements before he died were the words to an evildoer hanging alongside him on a torture stake: “Truly I tell you today, You will be with me in Paradise.”—Luke 23:43. Notice the placement of the comma is after the word 'today', indicating that there are two separate phrases, 1. 'I tell you today' and 2. 'You will be with me in Paradise'. This distinction differs from other Christian understanding of this verse where they read it as 1. 'I tell you' and 2. 'Today you will be with me in Paradise'. Some scriptures that Jehovah's Witnesses use to support their belief are (John 3:13-15); (Acts 24:15). Witnesses believe Scriptures such as
Matthew 12:40 and
27:63 and
Mark 8:31 and
9:31 show that Jesus himself expected an interval of three days between his own death and resurrection, making impossible a reunion in Paradise on the same day as Jesus'
"you will be with me in Paradise" statement.
[7]
[edit] Mormonism
In
Latter Day Saint theology, paradise usually refers to the
spirit world. That is, the place where spirits dwell following death and awaiting the resurrection. In that context, "paradise" is the state of the righteous after death. In contrast, the wicked and those who have not yet learned the gospel of Jesus Christ await the resurrection in
spirit prison. After the universal resurrection, all persons will be assigned to a particular
kingdom or degree of glory. This may also be termed "paradise".
In the
Qur'an, Paradise is denoted as "Jannah" or Garden, with the highest level being called "Firdous". The etymologically equivalent word is derived from the original
Avestan counterpart, and used instead of Heaven to describe the ultimate pleasurable place after death, equipped with
houris to satisfy the believers' with life, accessible by those who pray, donate to charity, and read the Qur'an. Heaven in Islam is used to describe the
Universe. It is also used in the Qur'an to describe skies in the literal sense, i.e., above earth.
[edit] The Urantia Book
The Urantia Book portrays Paradise as the "
eternal center of the universe of universes," and as "the abiding place of the
Universal Father, the
Eternal Son, the
Infinite Spirit, and their
divine co-ordinates and associates." The book states that paradise is the primal origin and the final
destiny for all spirit personalities, and for all the ascending creatures of the
evolutionary worlds of
time and
space.
[8]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
