ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the Christian religion, though with occasional glances elsewhere. A parapsychological approach tries to establish the facts of the matter and to see whether a satisfactory theoretical superstructure may be built on them. Religious statements tend to begin as metaphysical assertions based on revelation, however much they may subsequently be shown to be consistent with reason and with the data of the observed world. The Bible contains 'an almost embarrassing abundance of parapsycho-logical riches. Paranormal phenomena have been interpreted within a religious framework for as long as records go back in antiquity, but Spiritualism as a modern religion dates only from the mid-nineteenth century. The Christian churches have always mistrusted Spiritualism on theological grounds, and challenge its claim to spiritual authority. In 1995, Peter and Elizabeth Fenwick believe that the near-death experience is a form of mystical experience.
