Check nearby libraries
Buy this book
![Loading indicator](/images/ajax-loader-bar.gif)
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.
Check nearby libraries
Buy this book
![Loading indicator](/images/ajax-loader-bar.gif)
Previews available in: English
Subjects
Voyages to the otherworld, Near-death experiences, Voyages to the otherworld in literature, History of doctrines, Christianity, Religious aspects of Near-death experiences, Quelle, Todeserfahrung, Erlebnisbericht, Jenseits, Voyages dans d'autres mondes, Bijna-dood-ervaringen, Geschichte, Astral projection, Death, Psychological aspects, Apparent Death, Deathbed hallucinations, History, Religious aspectsTimes
Middle Ages, 600-1500Showing 7 featured editions. View all 7 editions?
Edition | Availability |
---|---|
1
Otherworld journeys: accounts of near death experience in mediaeval and modern times.
1989, Oxford University Press
in English
0195056655 9780195056655
|
cccc
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
2
Otherworld Journeys: Accounts of Near-Death Experience in Medieval and Modern Times
November 3, 1988, Oxford University Press, USA
in English
0195056655 9780195056655
|
aaaa
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
3
Otherworld Journeys: Accounts of near-Death Experience in Medieval and Modern Times
1988, Oxford University Press
in English
128052362X 9781280523625
|
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
4
Otherworld journeys: accounts of near-death experience in medieval and modern times
1988, Oxford University Press
in English
|
zzzz
|
5
Otherworld journeys: accounts of near-death experience in medieval and modern times
1987, Oxford University Press
in English
0195039157 9780195039153
|
cccc
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
6
Otherworld journeys: accounts of near-death experience in medieval and modern times
1987, Oxford University Press
in English
0195039157 9780195039153
|
cccc
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
7 |
zzzz
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
Book Details
First Sentence
"THE RECORD OF human origins is the record of human attitudes toward death."
ID Numbers
Excerpts
Community Reviews (0)
Feedback?History
- Created April 29, 2008
- 7 revisions
Wikipedia citation
×CloseCopy and paste this code into your Wikipedia page. Need help?
October 8, 2017 | Edited by MARC Bot | merge duplicate works of 'Otherworld journeys' |
August 5, 2010 | Edited by IdentifierBot | added LibraryThing ID |
April 24, 2010 | Edited by Open Library Bot | Fixed duplicate goodreads IDs. |
April 16, 2010 | Edited by bgimpertBot | Added goodreads ID. |
April 29, 2008 | Created by an anonymous user | Imported from amazon.com record |