PARADISO PARADISI | 1994 | PIERRE-ANTOINE BERNHEIM, GUY STAVRIDES

In Paradiso Paradisi (1994), Pierre‑Antoine Bernheim and Guy Stavridès trace the evolution of the concept of paradise across numerous religious, cultural and philosophical traditions. Drawing on a wide-ranging survey from ancient Near Eastern myths through Jewish, Christian, Islamic, Buddhist and Taoist visions, the authors explore how each tradition imagines a “place of ultimate blessedness,” how those visions change over time, and how they reflect deep-seated human yearnings and socio-cultural dynamics. The work stands out for its comparative scope, iconographic richness (38 illustrations in b/w and colour) and its attempt to position the idea of paradise not solely as a theological abstraction but as a lived cultural form.