ABSTRACT

This dramatic and sustained response to decades of research into near-death experiences (NDEs) is the first book to credibly bridge the gap between the competing factions of science and spirituality. Neither a religious argument touting NDEs as hard evidence for God, nor a scientific rebuke to religious interpretations, it balances investigation of these much-reported yet baffling phenomena, and brings fresh urgency to the study of our hopes for a life beyond.

chapter |12 pages

INTRODUCTION

Searching for a theology of the near-death experience

chapter 1|16 pages

A BRIEF HISTORY OF NDEs

chapter |7 pages

Life after Life After Life

chapter |19 pages

Transformed by the light

chapter 2|43 pages

A DEAFENING SILENCE

Theology and the NDE

chapter 3|44 pages

Defining the light

Language, epistemology and the NDE

chapter 4|45 pages

OF PLOTS AND MINDS

Neuroscience, narrative and the NDE

chapter |18 pages

Neuroscientific shortcomings

chapter 5|38 pages

SECOND SIGHT?

NDEs and the blind

chapter 6|87 pages

THE RERC STUDY

chapter 7|29 pages

Building bridges or fighting wars?

Religion, spirituality and the future of near-death studies