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.
Acknowledgements
ix
Introduction: searching for a theology of the near-death experience
1
(12)
A brief history of NDEs
13
(42)
A deafening silence: theology and the NDE
55
(43)
Defining the light: language, epistemology and the NDE
98
(44)
Of plots and minds: neuroscience, narrative and the NDE
142
(63)
Second sight? NDEs and the blind
205
(38)
The RERC study
243
(87)
Building bridges or fighting wars? Religion, spirituality and the future of near-death studies
330
(29)
Notes
359
(3)
Bibliography
362
(6)
Index
368
Dr Mark Fox is a member of Lampeter University's Religious Experience Research Centre committee, and an active member researcher into religious and paranormal experience. He currently lectures in philosophy and religious studies at Joseph Chamberlain College in Birmingham.
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