Eschatology: Freeze-Wait-Reanimate

Perhaps the most ancient function of religion is assuring man that he will live past death—and live in physical fact as well as in spirit. It was such a vision of immortality that led the Egyptians to mummify bodies and stock tombs with worldly belongings. Christians pray for the "resurrection of the body" and have traditionally held that at the Last Judgment the tombs will open and the dead will rise again to life. This age-old belief, combined with new technology, makes it seem prudent to a growing number of Americans that...

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