Ascent to Heaven in Jewish and Christian Apocalypses

This is a comprehensive study of the ancient Jewish and Christian apocalypse involving ascent to heaven. Himmelfarb finds that they share a vision of equality with the angels as attainable by human beings, a vision that was profoundly appealing to ancient Jews and ancient Christians. Himmelfarb also places the ascent narratives in their cultural and historical context, and explores their relationship to the canonical apocalypses, and to other Graeco-Roman literature of ascent and divinization.