Review by Choice Review
As Schlieter (religion, Univ. of Bern, Switzerland) writes in his preface, the near-death experience (NDE) has become a significant component of "recent religiosity" in Western institutional religion, and it is an element of belief that is spiritual but not religious. Reports of NDEs are not new, but the term itself is new and has a contested history. Schlieter provides a detailed, exhaustive study of the history of NDEs, which first appeared 400 years ago but became popular (and named) in recent decades (e.g., in Raymond Moody's Life after Life, 1975). Schlieter finds common themes among current "experiencers," who inspired the creation of the International Association for Near Death Studies. Setting the phenomenon in context, the author explores contemporary and historical end-of-life narratives and notes differences and similarities in the experiences shaped by context. The context (both religious and medical) for these experiences has changed in the last 400 years--for example, there has been a decline of "church-based religiosity" and a rise in medically based life extension and resuscitation from traumas that would have been fatal in earlier generations. In sum, narratives of NDEs provide rich material for examining the human experience of dying and of practicing religion, both of which continue to evolve. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty, professionals, general readers. --Merrill Morris Hawkins, Carson-Newman University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
