Images of Afterlife : : Beliefs From Antiquity to Modern Times

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Call Number: 291.2 Ma
On Shelf At: Downtown Library

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Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	291.2 Ma	4-week checkout	On Shelf

I. Scientific Objections to Belief in Afterlife. Materialism. Modern Attitudes Toward Matter. Scientific Advances in Antiquity. The Mind/Body Problem. Epiphenomenalism and Other Theories. Can Personal Identity Persist into Afterlife? -- II. Raising Ghosts: Frauds and Facts. Modern Spiritualism. The Role of Women. The Power of the Medium. Societies for Psychical Research. Parapsychology in the Soviet Union. Death as Barrier. Two Twentieth-Century Pioneers -- III. Near-Death and Other Experiences of "Crossing Over" -- IV. Afterlife as Corollary to Belief or Disbelief in God. Survival, Immortality, Resurrection, and Reincarnation. Ambiguities in Afterlife-Talk. History and Interpretation. Pantheism versus Monotheism. Community versus Individuality. Belief in Individual Immortality. Disbelief in Individual Immortality -- V. Early Development of Concepts of Afterlife. Prehistoric Beginnings. The Meaning of Monotheism. Archeological Clues. Fear in Primitive Afterlife Beliefs. Where Dwell the Spirits of the Dead? Afterlife Beliefs in Pre-Columbian America. Afterlife Beliefs in Egypt. Death, Judgment, and Resurrection in Zoroastrianism. Transmigration or Reincarnation. Resistance to the Monotheistic Solution. "Undeveloped" and "Developed" Religious Thought -- VI. Hades and Sheol: The Underworld of Ghosts. Hades and the Transition to Orphism. The Biblical Image of Sheol. The Birth of the Image of Hell. Fear of the Dead. Erotic Images of Paradise -- VII. Monism and Monotheism: Two Visions of Afterlife. Monism. Monotheism. Afterlife in Hindu Thought. Self-Realization. Karma and Reincarnation. Charisma: "Amazing Grace" Varieties of Religions with Indian Roots. The Jains. Jain Image of Afterlife. Christian Counterparts. Gautama the Buddha. Negativity in the Karmic Principle. Resurrection in Christian Thought. A Jewish Distinction. The Nature of the Christian Resurrection Hope. Resurrection in Islamic Thought. Envoi -- VIII. Judgment. Egyptian, Zoroastrian, Hindu, and Other Sources. Practical Consequences. Chinese Religion. Judgment and Eschatology in the Bible. Literalism and Allegorization. Judgment in Islamic Thought. Judgment and Reincarnation in Islam. The Concept of Self-Judgment. Judgment in Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism -- IX. Modes of Afterlife. The Christian Doctrine. Resurrection and/or Immortality? Confusion in Christian Afterlife Doctrine. Must Not Creation Be Eternally Ongoing? Immortality by Participation in God's Love. Limbo. The "Harrowing of Hell" Consequences of a Non-Evolutionary Ideal. Purgatory. Other Concepts. Afterlife in Medieval Judaism. Mormon Concept of Afterlife. The Baha'i Alternative to Heaven and Hell. Machiavelli -- X. Purgatory. Purgatory as Spiritual Development. Human Frailty and the Love of God. Love Surmounts Death. The Image and Shape of Purgatory. Purgatory as a Series of Re-embodiments -- XI. Resurrection. The Central Christian Proclamation. Paul's Teaching on Afterlife. Resurrection as Re-embodiment. Re-embodiment as the Conquest of Death. Immortality and Re-embodiment. Immortality and the Soul -- XII. Problems with Traditional Christian Images. Resurrection. Background. Immortality. Sheol, Gehenna, and Hell. Visions of Hell. Heaven. Dissatisfaction with Concepts of Heaven and Hell. Swedenborg, Boehme, and Blake -- XIII. Meeting Loved Ones in the Afterlife. Early Recollections. Reunion with Loved Ones. Kingsley and the Romantic Movement. The Monotheistic Focus -- XIV. General Review of Images of Afterlife. Increased Ethical Awareness. Immortality and Judgment. Ghostly Survival and Re-embodiment. A Personal View. Karma. Opposition to Reincarnational Beliefs. Rebirth. Salvation. Karma and Grace. The Problem of Evil.
Who among us hasn't wondered what awaits us after we die? Do we simply cease to be? Or is death in fact the door from our world into another? To find answers to these enduring questions, venerated scholar Geddes MacGregor takes us on a fascinating journey of discovery - from the ancient Middle East to modern America - in search of insight into the hidden mysteries of life after death. Along the way we explore Zoroastrianism, Jainism, Chinese religion, and Islam; learn about Karma, rebirth, and reincarnation; participate in the philosophical and theological debates prompted by the notion of afterlife; and meet people who are able to recall past lives and others who claim to have visited a world beyond ours during the fleeting moments of near-death experiences, Geddes MacGregor shows us how questions about afterlife have been asked (and often answered!) around the world and throughout history. Through his interpretation of the traditional concepts of heaven, hell, purgatory, and nirvana, Professor MacGregor shows that our spiritual well-being craves not a state of eternal bliss, but the opportunity for continuing growth. Humankind's yearning for life after death also testifies to our acknowledgment of purposefulness in the cycle of birth, life, death, and rebirth. Professor MacGregor concludes that the kind of belief or disbelief we have toward God will reflect the kind of belief or disbelief we have in afterlife. Ultimately, humanity's common belief in afterlife points toward the grand design of the Creators whose existence tugs at our consciousness from a world beyond our own. A powerful and vastly informative book, Images of Afterlife will encourage deep reflection about what awaits us in "the life everlasting" and will foster renewed appreciation of the importance of our sojourn in this lifetime.

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