Religion, Spirituality and the Near-Death Experience [Paperback]

Mark Fox (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 29, 2002 | ISBN-10: 0415288312 | ISBN-13: 978-0415288316 | Edition: 1

This dramatic and sustained response to decades of research into near-death experiences (NDEs) is the first book to credibly bridge the gap between the competing factions of science and spirituality. Neither a religious argument touting NDEs as hard evidence for God, nor a scientific rebuke to religious interpretations, it balances investigation of these much-reported yet baffling phenomena, and brings fresh urgency to the study of our hopes for a life beyond.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Fascinating, the analysis/explanation, drawing on cognate research into religious and mystical experiences, is of a sophisticated order clear, lucid, engaging and to the point. Highly recommended!' - Paul Heelas, Lancaster University

'Encyclopedia and scholarly; it pushes the boundaries further than any work on this topic in the last few years. There hasn't been anything quite like this for a long while.' - Allan Kellahear, La Trobe University, Australia

A fascinating overivew ... extremely illuminating for those interested in the question of NDEs ... the value of this work is in bringing together a range of different perspectives. - Jeremy Carrette, University of Stirling

The most exciting study of NDE's that I have seen in 10 years. - Allan Kellehear, La Trobe University, Melbourne

'Research into NDEs constitutes a fascinating and fast-growing field. In Religion, Spirituality and the Near-Death Experience, Mark Fox has admirably brought together a mass of this research carried out over the past thirty years ... This he presents in a clear and unbiased fashion, leaving the reader to make up their own minds on the issues.' - Russell Stannard, Times Literary Supplement

'Mark Fox ... has written the most sensible, accessible and helpful books so far on near-death experience' - Rt Revd David Atkinson, Church Times

'In Religion, [Mark Fox] attempts to connect the latest research in near-death experiences to philosophical musings. His efforts yields plenty of compelling first-person yarns, culled from more than 100 survivors.' - Psychology Today

'His treatment is a model of interdisciplinary investigation, mapping out evidence coherently and even-handedly ...' - Milltown Studies

'Religion, SPirituality and the Near-Death EXperience is the most sophisticated philosophical and theological analysis of NDE to appear to date.' - Network

'In short, Religion, Spirituality and the Near-Death Experience provides an excellent introduction and overview of research on near-death experiences, with a special emphasis on the religious implications thereof.' - Studies in Religion

'[Fox] has written a comprehensive guide to a subject which has been growing over the last twenty-five years ... a welcome standby for serious students of the subject.' - Christian Parapsychologist

About the Author

Dr Mark Fox is a member of Lampeter University's Religious Experience Research Centre committee, and an active member researcher into religious and paranormal experience. He currently lectures in philosophy and religious studies at Joseph Chamberlain College in Birmingham.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (December 29, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415288312
• ISBN-13: 978-0415288316
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,383,204 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mark Fox researchers and writes on the twin - and related - topics of religious and spiritual experience. He adopts a multi-disciplinary approach, beginning with the recognition that testimonies are all that we usually have (unless we have had such experiences ourselves) so testimonies are what we must explore. His books draw on and analyse a wealth of previously unpublished - and frequently fascinating - accounts of near-death and out-of-body experiences, visions, encounters with unusual lights, and overwhelming experiences of love. Sympathetic yet scholarly, his books are aimed at 'specialists' and general readers alike.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Raising vital questions... while raising your consciousness., June 22, 2003

By 

richardpinneau.com (Colorado) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Religion, Spirituality and the Near-Death Experience (Paperback)

Not everyone who is resuscitated after reaching a point where they would be pronounced clinically "dead" has what has come to be called an "NDE"; but an awfully significant proportion do have such an experience - extraordinary both subjectively and objectively, as can be seen by the research reports.

The phenomenon refuses to be explained away in any simple or straight forward way. The thousands of cases analyzed to date offer scientists a lot of evidence to weigh, present theologians with challenges to long-established scriptural interpretations, and give any inquisitive mind a pause to re-ask fundamental questions about human consciousness and spirituality.

Mark Fox has done a fine job of pulling together the most current studies and the persisting issues surrounding the NDE phenomenon. He is level-headed and fair and writes with a pleasant, reader-respecting style (unlike some other strident volumes which are bent on sharpening some particular ideological or social axe).

The fundamental crux in resolving what to do with the NDE phenomenon seems to be: Why does a moment when PHYSICAL functioning is at its worst provide (more often than not) a CONSCIOUSNESS that is functioning peacefully, joyfully, and even with greater accuracy and more information than ordinarily?

If you read Fox's documentation of this phenomenon, I think you'll find the search for satisfactory answers to this mystery well worth your consideration.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not fully satisfied, May 9, 2007

By 

Van Isle Rev (Vancouver Island, British Columbia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Religion, Spirituality and the Near-Death Experience (Paperback)

As someone with a keen curiosity about Near Death Experiences, I found this book to be something of a disappointment.

On the plus side, Fox collects and examines a wide assortment of near-death narratives from a variety of sources, including the standard books on NDEs (near-death experiences) by folks like Raymond Moody and Kenneth Ring. In addition, Fox draws upon the files of the Religious Experience Research Centre housed at the University of Wales; these accounts provide a further means with which to identify the key elements of the particular type of religious experience known as an NDE, in contrast and comparison with the other types of religious-experience collected in the RERC files. For those who are new to this literature, Fox's book provides a helpful overview; he is to be commended for the thoroughness of his research.

I was less impressed, however, with Fox's attempts at walking readers through the complex maze of current academic conversation regarding NDEs. To his credit, Fox approaches each academic paradigm with a genuine spirit of openness; nevertheless, this reader was left with the impression that Fox was simply unwilling to engage these various academic paradigms with critical rigor, let alone acknowledge that they can't all be of equal validity. Those shortcomings would be less of an irritant, were Fox himself not so inclined to lecture theologians and philosophers over their reluctance to become more engaged in the whole area of NDE research. Indeed, Fox's book unwittingly provides powerful justification for their reluctance! Despite their considerable fascination, theologians and philosophers alike are wise to approach NDEs with considerable caution since they provide--Fox's assertions to the contrary notwithstanding--a thin foundation on which to build either a theological or a philosophical edifice.

On the whole, this is a volume I would recommend only to those deeply interested not only in Near Death Experiences, but in the multi-dimensional academic conversation that has grown up around NDEs over the past 25 years.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars transformation and information, December 26, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Religion, Spirituality and the Near-Death Experience (Paperback)

After reading many books by several empowering authors such as Betty Eadie, John Edward, Sylvia Browne, and Tiffany Snow,- that I am still reading, my life has opened up to me in such a compelling and wonderful way. This new book is well written, and thought provoking. There are great transforming authors, who shift the consciousness of humankind in a way never known before, and have the courage to reveal their paranormal experiences. Snow does it by bridging religion and spirituality after a personal lightning strike NDE, and "Religion, Spirituality" does it from a combination of others.