While accounts of near-death experiences (NDEs) are found around the world and throughout history, descriptions of the phenomenon vary widely. Whether arguing for or against the survival hypothesis, most scholarly and scientific discussions of NDEs are predicated on seeing them as either a universal human phenomenon or as an entirely culturally-constructed one. This article will discuss the...
Abstract Accounts of near-death experiences (NDEs) across cultures often include claims of encounters with deities or spirits who impart information to the experiencer. Other accounts involve the experiencer obtaining knowledge by other means, without the assistance of a non-human supernatural being. While some cases involve deceased relatives, the most significant factor in others might be the...
Near-death experiences (NDEs) share many common elements worldwide, indicating that they originate in phenomena that are independent of culture. They also have many elements unique to the individual experiencers and their cultures, demonstrating a symbiotic relationship between experience and belief. There are numerous examples worldwide of religious beliefs originating in NDEs and other...
Near-death experiences (NDEs) are indisputably part of human experience, known from accounts from around the world and throughout history. This book examines the role culture plays in how people experience and interpret NDEs, and reveals how afterlife beliefs often originate in such extraordinary experiences. It also explores the relationship between shamanism and NDEs. The book focuses on...
This article discusses near-death experiences as a central theme of Native American afterlife beliefs, and Native Americans' response to Christian missionaries. It argues that NDEs and socio-political factors can explain Native American religious revitalization movements and beliefs in general.
Foreword by Gavin Flood Acknowledgements Abbreviations of Primary Sources Introduction Part I 1. Comparison, Universalism, and the Rehabilitation of the Comparative 'Similar' 2. Early Civilizations, Contact, Diffusion, and Cultural Continuity 3. Near-Death Experience Part II 4. Old and Middle Kingdom Egypt 5. Sumerian and Old Babylonian Mesopotamia 6. Vedic India 7. Pre-Buddhist China 8....