COMMENT:Presents "otherworld journey" narratives from medieval Christianity and draws symbolic parallels to the near-death experiences recounted by current advocates of "life after life." Her comparison, however, is on a literary plane, from a liberal theological point of view -- she makes no attempt to find a more solid experiential or neurological base. Zaleski endorses a vapid William James-like pragmatism, disliking the naivete of paranormalists but using "reductionist" as a dirty word describing skeptics. A negligible treatment of an interesting subject.
DATE:19990629
KEYWORDS:survival:history
MISC:288p.
PUBLISHER:Oxford University Press
SUBMITADDR:bibliographer@csicop.org
SUBMITNAME:Taner Edis
TITLE:Otherworld Journeys: Accounts of Near-Death Experience in Medieval and Modern Times
