Otherworldly Narratives
January 13, 2026 DOI: 10.4324/9781003373407-6 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that afterlife memoirs recounting out-of-body and near-death experiences function as therapeutic texts and "postmaterialist autoethnographies" that confer therapeutic authority on experiential experts, whose accounts of encounters with God, reunions with loved ones, and celestial landscapes exemplify what the author terms "the new sacred." |
Abstract
This chapter examines afterlife memoirs authored by individuals reporting their spiritually transformative experiences, such as visits to the Other Side and other anomalous events. Focusing primarily on out-of-body and near-death experiences as therapeutic texts, it analyzes the narratives and otherworld representations found within these subgenres. It also examines texts by medical and scientific experts whose accounts form a significant data set on postmaterialist narratives. These Otherworldly reports of disembodiment and encounters with the afterlife are explored through a double hermeneutic, treating them as postmaterialist autoethnographies that confer therapeutic authority. Through discourse, content, and narrative analysis, the chapter investigates descriptions of encounters with God, reunions with loved ones, including previously unknown relatives, and detailed depictions of celestial landscapes and spiritual beings. Highlighting how exceptional human experiences function as transformative events, the chapter positions experiential experts as key figures within the therapeutic afterlife genre, whose Otherworldly reports exemplify the new sacred.