Otherworld Journeys: Accounts of Near-death Experience in Medieval & Modern Times

by Carol Zaleski

Many publications, tv shows & films relating near-death experiences have appeared. People who've survived brushes with death reveal their extraordinary visions & ecstatic feelings at the moment they died, describing journeys thru a tunnel to a realm of light, visual reviews of past deeds, encounters with benevolent spirits & lasting transformation upon returning to life. Zaleski's Otherworld Journeys offers the a comprehensive treatment of the evidence surrounding near-death experiences. The 1st to place researchers' findings, 1st-person accounts & possible medical or psychological explanations in historical perspective, she discusses how these materials reflect contemporary culture. She demonstrates that modern near-death reports belong to a vast family of otherworld journey tales, with examples in most religious heritages. She identifies universal as well as culturally specific features by comparing near-death narratives in two distinct periods of Western society: medieval Christendom & contemporary secular America. This comparison reveals profound similarities, such as life-review & transforming aftereffects of the vision, as well as striking contrasts, such as the absence of hell or punishment from modern accounts. Mediating between debunkers & near-death researchers, she considers current efforts to explain near-death experience scientifically. She concludes by emphasizing the importance of otherworld visions for understanding imaginative & religious experience in general.

Genres: Nonfiction, Religion, Spirituality, Death, Christianity, History

288 pages, Paperback

First published March 26, 1987

About the author

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carol_Za...

Excerpts from The Fellowship: The Literary Lives of the Inklings - J.R.R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Charles Williams, Owen Barfield available here:

http://chronicle.com/article/Oxfords-...

http://us.macmillan.com/excerpt?isbn=...

Reviews

[Erik Graff · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think I found this book on the shelf at the old Ennui Cafe in East Rogers Park, Chicago. Since half the books there had been donated by me, I felt no compunctions about absconding with it.

This book was fascinating, particularly the bit--the main bit--comparing medieval descriptions of the afterlife with modern ones. It appears that in the middle ages dead people were confronted with two paths, one difficult of traverse leading to paradise, another easy of passage leading to the torments of hell--either icy or hot, but extemely unpleasant in either case. In our own enlightened age, however, god having become a liberal, dead people are guaranteed a lot of fun, the most extreme cases of depravity entailing only a bunch of self-improvement seminars. Things just get better and better and better, don't they?

The rest of the book is about contemporary scientific thanatology, about which I once took a course or two, incidentally. Zaleski comes to no firm conclusions, but the study of such things as near-death (NDE) and out-of-the-body (OBE) experiences is quite interesting. Maybe someday someone will prove that the latter is possible in this world and that the former is a subset of such business--but I doubt it.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was absolutely mind-blowing. The woman who wrote this--I think it was her dissertation--compares medieval reports of near death experiences (NDE) to modern day NDEs. Holy shit, this book was totally crazy. It made me feel more and less secure about dying at the same time. The best book I read all year. I promise.

[Daniel Pecheur · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative and enriching study of near-death experiences, exploring the NDE paradigms, drawing on medieval narratives, didactic tales of after-life encounters, varied visions of Heaven and Hell throughout the centuries, while expounding in thorough details the parallels in modern day accounts. Zaleski does a wonderful job of being scholarly and objective in her work and she presents the reader with many compelling reasons to take the NDEs seriously and consider the unanswered questions about the possibility of an afterlife.

[Aly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Freaked me out, in a good way.

[Jakob · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting comparisons of NDE:s between medieval times and the modern age. The vision of the afterlie changes according to the spiritual zeitgeist, it seems. But still the core aspects remain the same. Illumination, bliss, and changes in post-NDE personality being near universal. There is much here to infer that there indeed is some form of life after death.

[Lulu]

The Otherworld Journey as Miracle Story:
The Dialogues of Gregory the Great

[Kevin Christensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I ran across this one when I was researching the article that eventually became "Nigh Unto Death" NDE Research in the Book of Mormon" in JBMS 2/1. It forced me to do a lot of re-reading and rethinking to the improvement of my essay. By bringing in cross-cultural comparisons, she delves into the question of cultural conditioning, including language and symbol. It's more an academics book that most NDE books, and that is a good thing. It provides a broad perspective against which to view other accounts, both modern and ancient. I ended up quoting her several times. I still regard as one of my favorite books, due to the mind-expanding effect it had on me, and due to the kinds of things I was able to see in familar texts (at least familiar to me) after reading it. I'd been focused on Alma, Lamoni, and the Queen before reading it, but afterwards took another look at Lehi and Nephi, especially in comparison to Medieval "test bridge" accounts. I still recall reading similar scenes in Arthurian tales.

[Dianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fascinating read – the author writes in the scholastic form – as in research for dissertation – but it is still a comfortable enough read, and so interesting it's hardly noticeable; she is comparing what were perceived then as religious visions that people have described from early history and comparing them to modern day near-death experiences. Really good stuff.

[Phil Lawless · Rating 4 out of 5]

An academic flavor, but covers the topic very well.

[aloveiz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this one.
bedtime storyesque.