Beyond the threshold: afterlife beliefs and experiences in world religions

313 Pages·2008·1.06 MB·English

by  Christopher M. Moreman

Beyond the Threshold

Beyond the Threshold
Afterlife Beliefs and Experiences
in World Religions
Christopher M. Moreman
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
Lanham • Boulder • New York • Toronto • Plymouth, UK
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
Published in the United States of America
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Copyright© 2008 by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
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without the prior permission of the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Moreman, Christopher M., 1974–
Beyond the threshold : afterlife beliefs and experiences in world religions / Christopher
Moreman.
p. cm.
ISBN-13: 978-0-7425-6228-8 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-7425-6228-X (cloth : alk. paper)
eISBN-13: 978-0-7425-6552-4
eISBN-10: 0-7425-6552-1
1. Future life. I. Title.
BL535.M68 2008
202'.3—dc22 2008016699
Printed in the United States of America
(cid:2)™
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
For my cousin, Richard Leger,
who found out for himself
the answers to all of these questions
far too soon for the rest of us.

(cid:2)
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
Part One An Overview of Beliefs in an Afterlife from
Major World Religions
Chapter 1 Ancient Conceptions 11
Chapter 2 Judaism 35
Chapter 3 Christianity 53
Chapter 4 Islam 77
Chapter 5 Hinduism 97
Chapter 6 Buddhism 117
Chapter 7 Chinese Religions 139
Part Two An Overview of the Research into Experiences
of an Afterlife
Chapter 8 Mediumship 161
Chapter 9 Apparitions and Hauntings 183
vii
viii (cid:2) Contents
Chapter 10 Near-Death and Out-of-Body Experiences 207
Chapter 11 Past-Life Memories 227
Part Three Beliefs and Experiences: An Attempt
at a Synthesis
Chapter 12 Comparison of Beliefs 245
Chapter 13 Comparison of Phenomena 257
Chapter 14 Conclusions 269
Bibliography 283
Index 297
About the Author 301
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Acknowledgments
There are many people to whom I must credit for assistance with the produc-
tion of this text, which has followed a long road from dissertation to book. I
would like to begin by expressing my gratitude to those professors who read and
commented on the work in progress. Foremost among these is my supervisor,
Professor Paul Badham, who guided me through the doctoral stage and managed
the difficulties of communication at a distance. Thanks are also due the follow-
ing who read chapters in their own individual areas of specialization: Professor
Dan Cohn-Sherbok, Dr. Gary Bunt, Dr. Ismail Hacinebioglu, Dr. Maya Warrier,
Dr. Wendy Dossett, Professor Xinzhong Yao, and Dr. John Palmer. Dr. Denise
Cush deserves credit for acting as the external reviewer of the thesis.
I would like to thank Drs. Michael Thalbourne and Lance Storm for asking
me to contribute a chapter to their collection, The Survival of Human Con-
sciousness: Essays on the Possibility of Life After Death, and to the editors at Mac-
Farland & Company, Inc., for permitting me to include a revised version of this
chapter as the conclusion to my book.
I must also acknowledge the support of both the Society for Psychical Re-
search and Concordia University’s Institute for Canadian Jewish Studies as they
both provided financial assistance during my research. Dr. Norm Ravvin, Chair
of Canadian Jewish Studies, was of great help. The Parapsychology Foundation
also generously awarded me the D. Scott Rogo Award toward revising the the-
sis into a book.
I would like to thank the following for additional comments at various stages
of writing: Dr. Vanessa Sasson, Dr. Ciaran O’Keefe, and David Fiore.
ix