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In my 2008 book The Philosophy of Human Nature, I raised the question about whether the numerous reports and scientific analyses of near-death experiences (“NDEs”) could throw light on the proofs of immortality and other religious questions offered by thinkers like St. Thomas Aquinas, and others.
Books on Near-Death Experiences
Since then, books on NDEs and their interpretation have multiplied. Interestingly, many of them have been written by physicians. Life After Life, a best-seller published by Raymond A. Moody, a forensic psychiatrist, has been followed up by doctors who not only analyzed the phenomenon but recount their own NDEs, which sometimes border on the miraculous.
To mention just a few: Proof of Heaven, by neurosurgeon Eben Alexander; Evidence of the Afterlife, by oncology radiologist Jeffrey Long and Paul Perry; To Heaven and Back, by orthopedic spine surgeon Mary C. Neal. Dr. Laurin Bellg, a critical care specialist, in Near Death in the ICU, brings Moody’s analyses up to date with his own investigations and interviews.
Roman Catholic priests have also offered analyses based on their own NDEs – Fr. John Michael Tourangeau, in To Heaven and Back: The Journey of a Roman Catholic Priest; and Fr. Jose Maniyangat, an Indian Catholic Priest, recently retired, and conducting healing ministries throughout Florida.
Some books focus on children’s NDEs – including I Saw God: The True Story of a Young Boy’s Miraculous Return from Death, and Heaven is for Real, which was dramatized in a film by the same name.
What are we to make of these books, in which medical professionals often risk their scientific reputations, and are subjected to critiques by physicians and scientists who have a variety of physiological and neurological explanations for the phenomenon?
Continued below.
God, Religion, and Near-Death Experiences - Catholic Stand
Books on Near-Death Experiences
Since then, books on NDEs and their interpretation have multiplied. Interestingly, many of them have been written by physicians. Life After Life, a best-seller published by Raymond A. Moody, a forensic psychiatrist, has been followed up by doctors who not only analyzed the phenomenon but recount their own NDEs, which sometimes border on the miraculous.
To mention just a few: Proof of Heaven, by neurosurgeon Eben Alexander; Evidence of the Afterlife, by oncology radiologist Jeffrey Long and Paul Perry; To Heaven and Back, by orthopedic spine surgeon Mary C. Neal. Dr. Laurin Bellg, a critical care specialist, in Near Death in the ICU, brings Moody’s analyses up to date with his own investigations and interviews.
Roman Catholic priests have also offered analyses based on their own NDEs – Fr. John Michael Tourangeau, in To Heaven and Back: The Journey of a Roman Catholic Priest; and Fr. Jose Maniyangat, an Indian Catholic Priest, recently retired, and conducting healing ministries throughout Florida.
Some books focus on children’s NDEs – including I Saw God: The True Story of a Young Boy’s Miraculous Return from Death, and Heaven is for Real, which was dramatized in a film by the same name.
What are we to make of these books, in which medical professionals often risk their scientific reputations, and are subjected to critiques by physicians and scientists who have a variety of physiological and neurological explanations for the phenomenon?
Continued below.
God, Religion, and Near-Death Experiences - Catholic Stand
