postponing heaven

Jad Hatem’s new book Postponing Heaven is a creative philosophical comparison of Mormonism, Buddhism, and Islam. Surprisingly, each of these faiths acknowledges the existence of a plurality of human messiahs. Hatem examines Mormonism’s Three Nephites, Buddhism’s Bodhisattva, and Islam’s Mahdi—distinctive messianic figures who “postpone Heaven,” so to speak by sacrificially prolonging their lives for the benefit of humankind.We asked Hatem how a Lebanese professor of philosophy, literature, and religion came to write Postponing Heaven and the two additional essays on Mormon topics that are appended to it. Here is his reply: “The book is a result of a passion and a circumstance. I have a passion for religions in general, each of which I take to embody the attempt to decipher the mystery of human being in terms of its animating transcendent dimension. The circumstance was a course I gave in 2007 on Mormon doctrine. The course made me discover the point of contact between Mormonism, Buddhism, and Shi’ite Islam. That gradually suggested the possibility of writing a short book combining the philosophical point of view (implementing the transcendental of messianicity) and the point of view of the academic study of religions, without neglecting the literary dimension—since I did a fair bit of work on the novels of Orson Scott Card to support my argument.As for the two essays appended to the main work: During my stay at BYU in 2008, at your invitation, I had the opportunity to take part in the meetings of the Society for Mormon Philosophy and Theology that took place that year at the University of Utah. I took that opportunity to develop the theme of chapter 6 of this book, “Lehi’s Axiom,” through a confrontation with Schelling. I am among those who believe in the virtue of comparison. The idea of the second essay came to me while reading Pico della Mirandola: I brought together two distant stars. Needless to say, through that meditation I found a way of satisfying my passion for Christology.”Postponing Heaven is part of the Institute’s new Groundwork series on scripture and theory. You can purchase a copy at Amazon.com today or read more about the book here.

“Lord, give unto me power over death,that I may live and bring souls unto thee.”—Doctrine & Convents 7:2 Christianity, like other world religions, acknowledges the existence of multiple human messianic figures. In this comparative work, philosopher Jad Hatem examines the Book of Mormon’s Three Nephites, Buddhism’s Bodhisattva, and Islam’s Mahdi—all distinctive messianic figures who postpone Heaven, sacrificially prolonging their lives for the benefit of humankind.Jonathon Penny’s translation of the French original includes two additional papers in which Jad Hatem deals with various aspects of Latter-day Saint belief. It also includes an interview between Hatem and Latter-day Saint philosopher James E. Faulconer.Postponing Heaven: The Three Nephites, the Bodhisattva, and the Mahdi is the first book in the Maxwell Institute’s new series, Groundwork: Studies in Theory and Scripture (more information to come). Advance Praise “Jad Hatem has a detailed knowledge of Mormon doctrine—from the Book of Mormon to the Pearl of Great Price to Bruce R. McConkie and Orson Scott Card. Beyond this, he brings in-depth knowledge of Islam and Buddhism. Remarkable. Postponing Heaven’s purpose is not to be motivational or even to necessarily promote belief in any of these teachings, which is not to say those who see the connections won’t be inspired by what they learn. This is definitely a high-octane read.”—Charles Inouye, professor of Japanese literature and visual culture, specialist in comparative religion, Tufts University

James Faulconer is here to tell us about a forthcoming title from the Maxwell Institute called Postponing Heaven. The book compares the Book of Mormon’s Three Nephites to the Mahdî of Islam and Buddhism’s bodhisattva. These figures sacrifice their personal existence—not by dying, but by consecrating their existence to others in different ways. Faulconer, who holds the Richard L. Evans Chair of Religious Understanding at Brigham Young University, blogs at Patheos. He is author of the Maxwell Institute’s forthcoming “Made Harder” scripture series. —BHodges