Customer Reviews

Death and Eternal Life

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I first read John Hick about 12 years ago and this was the first of his books. My understanding of Christianity in general and the nature of life and death in particular were significantly altered by this book and others by Hick.

Imagine taking a ride through the various theories of life after death as presented by various religions, each one being presented so that you say, "Wow -- now this is it." Hick, in his masterful way, then says, "No, not really, and here's why..." So, throughout the book (although the first 200 pages are less thrilling)you are being led through this maze all the time wondering if, by the time the book ends, you're doing be presented with something that makes sense. The ride is worth it -- you are well rewarded.

Again, nearly anything by Hick is worth reading, but this is a book to settle down into and give yourself up to. It's not light reading by any means, but it is fascinating.

John Hick
Death and Eternal Life

(New York: Harper & Row, 1976) 495 pages

A British professor of philosophy reviews the Western Christian
and Eastern Hindu and Buddhist ideas about self, death, and life after death.
He specifically examines immortality (survival of a disembodied mind),
resurrection (a new life in another form),
and reincarnation (a new life in a different body).
Heaven and reincarnation may not be as far apart as they seem at first.
Hick finally invents his own hypothesis of several lives after death,
thru which we might reach moral and spiritual fulfillment.
An interesting and well-informed book.

If you would like to read other books about life after death,
search the following term on the Internet:
"IS THERE LIFE AFTER DEATH? THE BEST BOOKS".

James Leonard Park, skeptic.

This books gets 2 stars rather than 1 since it does provide some summarization of the various eastern and western views regarding death and eternal life.

The author's own viewpoint is poorly argued. For example, Hick suggests that the traditional Christian doctrine of the immortality of the soul is untenable due to the emergence of the scientific mind. Hick suggests that anything which cannot be demonstrated as being in accordance with empirical science should be discarded. However, Hick then goes on to say that ESP, clairavoyance (sp?), and other psychic nad paranormal phenomena should be counted as reliable evidence for the existence of life after death (I wonder what empirical scientists would say about this). The author then turns to the eastern religions and panentheism to provide a picture of what eternal life may be like (but without any convincing arguments). On the whole, I think that this book is a waste of time.