Customer Reviews

Apparitions, Healings, and Weeping Madonnas: Christianity and the Paranormal

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This book is perfect for me as a layperson who has an interest in the subject, but had known little until reading Apparitions, Healings and Weeping Madonnas. The author's style is such that she respects the reader's intelligence, while educating and informing, expanding our perspectives. This is a book that sheds light on the paranormal, no matter what one's faith. I highly recommend this book.

In Apparitions, Healings, And Weeping Madonnas: Christianity And The Paranormal, Lisa J. Schwebel (Assistant Professor of Religion, Hunter College, City University of New York), examines a broad set of phenomena that have been claimed to be direct interventions of God into the mortal realm. Looking at these various accounts from the twin points of view of theology and parapsychology, Apparitions, Healings, And Weeping Madonnas offers an enormous amount of insight, as well as providing suggestions for a reliable criteria with respect to discerning whether a vision is genuine. A thoughtfully reasoned and meticulously analyzed account that pays due respect to science and faith alike, Apparitions, Healings, And Weeping Madonnas is inherently fascinating and impressively informative reading.

Much has been written about visitations/appearances from the Virgin Mary but none as innovative and well researched as this. The material is treated in a balanced and insightful manner but remains extremely readable.

Highly recommended to anyone with an interest in parapsychology.

This rambling discourse spends a third of the book defining the
terminolgy of the field of parapsychology. It is all downhill for
the remaing two thirds.The author jumps around and is never able
to do more than make bizarre scenaros that are used to discredit
long held beliefs.The appendix contains charts that are so useless that the reader is reminded of the college freshman trick
of filling the term paper with double spaced pages and anything that would thicken a weak report.
The author makes many timeline errors and I had the feeling that
she had not researched and verified much of the data.

Interestingly written, fascinating research... analyzes various understandings of miraculous from the parapsychological to the psychoneuroimmunological to the theological. Really enlightening. A fresh look and a must-read for anyone interested in the religious understanding of miracles.

If you have ever had questions about the occurrence and source of "miracles," or about the potential role of paranormal phenomena in the these events, do read Dr. Schwebel's book. It's a smartly written, impressively researched book, and thought provoking throughout. The chapter on "Healings and Miracles" alone is worth the price of the book.

This book considers curious religious phenomena as manifestations of the paranormal. The author defines the terms used by parapsychologists -- telepathy, PK, precognition, etc -- and demonstrates how these "psi" abilities might be used to explain religious visions, faith healings and other inexplicable happenings. She also argues that a parapsychological interpretation does not invalidate the spiritual value of such phenomena.

This is all well and good, if you accept the central premise of the book: namely, that paranormal abilities actually exist. This is still very much a question of faith, despite the author's calm assurance and scientific demeanor.

If you are already convinced that psi effects are real, this book will provide food for thought. If you don't ...