Bernd U. Schipper -- Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany "A masterful and fascinating overview of death in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Ugarit, and Judah. . . Christopher Hays offers a thorough discussion of ancient Near Eastern conceptions and imagery of the underworld and its deities, the afterlife, burials, and mourning. Students as well as scholars will benefit from the rich synthesis that this work provides."   Kara Cooney -- University of California, Los Angeles "Hays's holistic perspective and readable prose effectively move biblical scholarship out of safe territorial boxes and into the real world of hybridization and cross-pollination. This book belongs on the bookshelf of any contextualizing scholar.

"   Matthew J. Suriano  (from foreword) -- Meyerhoff Center for Jewish Studies, University of Maryland "The appearance of this accessible and affordable volume is a welcome event in biblical studies and an important advancement in the ongoing work on death in the ancient world."  .