Dozens of books, articles, television shows, and films relating
"near-death" experiences have appeared in the past decade. People who
have survived a close brush with death reveal their extraordinary
visions and ecstatic feelings at the moment they died, describing
journeys through a tunnel to a realm of light, visual reviews of their
past deeds, encounters with a benevolent spirit, and permanent
transformation after returning to life. Carol Zaleski's _Otherworld
Journeys_ offers the most comprehensive treatment to date of the
evidence surrounding near-death experiences. The first to place
researchers' findings, first-person accounts, and possible medical or
psychological explanations in historical perspective, she discusses
how these materials reflect the influence of contemporary culture. She
demonstrates that modern near-death reports belong to a vast family of
otherworld journey tales, with examples in nearly every religious
heritage. She identifies universal as well as culturally specific
features by comparing near-death narratives in two distinct periods of
Western society: medieval Christendom and twentieth-century secular
America. This comparison reveals profound similarities, such as the
life-review and the transforming after-effects of the vision, as well
as striking contrasts, such as the absence of hell or punishment
scenes from modern accounts. Mediating between the "debunkers" and the
near-death researchers, Zaleski considers current efforts to explain
near-death experience scientifically. She concludes by emphasizing the
importance of the otherworld vision for understanding imaginative and
religious experience in general.
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Accounts of Near-Death Experience in Medieval and Modern Times
Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780190281588
Publisert
2020
Utgiver
Vendor
Oxford University Press
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter