{"product_id":"otherworld-journeys-accounts-of-near-death-experience-in-medieval-and-modern-times","title":"Otherworld Journeys: Accounts of Near-Death Experience in Medieval and Modern Times","description":"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.\u003cbr\u003e Carol Zaleski's \u003cem\u003eOtherworld Journeys\u003c\/em\u003e 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.\u003cbr\u003e 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.","brand":"Oxford University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51993706299623,"sku":"9780195056655","price":42.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0449\/4075\/5096\/files\/imageloader_89eba68f-c5f8-40a3-94dd-1d94f122ba1c.jpg?v=1776659140","url":"https:\/\/arvidabookco.com\/products\/otherworld-journeys-accounts-of-near-death-experience-in-medieval-and-modern-times","provider":"Arvida Book Co.","version":"1.0","type":"link"}