Serial/Series Title

Online Resources for the History of Out-of-Body Experiences and Death-Related Phenomena (open access)

Online Resources for the History of Out-of-Body Experiences and Death-Related Phenomena

Abstract: Google Books is a digital library covering out of print publications about a variety of topics, among them materials relevant for a history of discussions, observations, and collections of cases of out-of-body experiences and death-related phenomena such as near-death experiences, deathbed visions, and apparitions. In this article, I provide examples of copyright-free and cost-free sources from Google Books that investigators of near-death and related phenomena can download and change into plain text; in many cases, I include passages that give readers a sense of the richness of these sources for both a historical and a contemporary understanding of near-death and related phenomena. Examples of books include Johann Engelbrecht's "The Divine Visions of John Engelbrecht" (1780), Augustine Calmet's "The Phantom World" (1850), Henri Roger Gougenot de Mousseaux's "Les hauts phénomènes de la magie" (1864), Edward H. Clarke's "Visions" (1878), William H. Harrison's "Spirits Before Our Eyes" (1879), and Frederic W. H. Myers's "Human Personality and Its Survival of Bodily Death" (1903). Examples of articles include those written by such authors as Ernesto Bozzano, Francis Power Cobbe, James H. Hyslop, Duncan MacDougall, Frank Podmore, and A. S. Wiltse.
Date: Spring 2010
Creator: Alvarado, Carlos S.
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Guest Editorial: The Search for God and Afterlife in the Age of Science (open access)

Guest Editorial: The Search for God and Afterlife in the Age of Science

Abstract: Near-death experiences (NDEs) and other transpersonal experiences -- those that transcend the usual personal experiential limits of space and/or time -- point to the existence and nature of God and ongoing personal consciousness following physical death. In this article, I review the history of these experiences prior to 1850 and of their study during three periods of scientific research between 1850 and the present. I conclude that (1) a large percentage of the population has experienced NDEs and other transpersonal experiences, (2) the overwhelming majority of these experiencers are mentally healthy, and (3) these experiences change people's lives for the better. I contend that although NDEs and other transpersonal experiences cannot prove the existence of a personal God and afterlife, they definitely point to them.
Date: Spring 2010
Creator: Vincent, Ken R.
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Book Review: Signs: A New Approach to Coincidence, Synchronicity, Guidance, Life Purpose, and God's Plan (open access)

Book Review: Signs: A New Approach to Coincidence, Synchronicity, Guidance, Life Purpose, and God's Plan

Review of a book titled "Signs: A New Approach to Coincidence, Synchronicity, Guidance, Life Purpose, and God's Plan" written by Robert Perry.
Date: Spring 2010
Creator: Greyson, Bruce
Object Type: Review
System: The UNT Digital Library
Editor's Foreword [Spring 2010] (open access)

Editor's Foreword [Spring 2010]

Editorial statement introducing the contents of the journal issue and providing other relevant notes.
Date: Spring 2010
Creator: Holden, Janice Miner
Object Type: Text
System: The UNT Digital Library