Serial/Series Title

Over My Dead Body There Is an Ideal Utopia: Comments on Kellehear's Paper (open access)

Over My Dead Body There Is an Ideal Utopia: Comments on Kellehear's Paper

Article examining the logical implications and philosophical possibilities of a utopian realm, and coming to three conclusions. First, the realms described by near-death experiencers (NDErs), if taken at face value, are far from utopian. Second, any truly utopian postmortem society is so far removed from our present world as to be morally irrelevant to our own. And third, only an ideational postmortem utopia, of the sort exemplified by Pure Land Buddhist theology, can avoid both the non-utopian nature of NDErs' descriptions and the irrelevance of postmortem utopias.
Date: Winter 1991
Creator: Becker, Carl B.
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Near-Death Utopias: Now or Later? (open access)

Near-Death Utopias: Now or Later?

Article suggesting that researchers look first for indications of ideal social order in near-death narratives, and only later compare them with types of utopias.
Date: Winter 1991
Creator: Charmaz, Kathy
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Journal of Near-Death Studies, Volume 10, Number 2, Winter 1991 (open access)

Journal of Near-Death Studies, Volume 10, Number 2, Winter 1991

Quarterly journal publishing papers related to near-death experiences, including research reports; theoretical or conceptual statements; expressions of a scientific, philosophic, religious, or historical perspective on the study of near-death experiences; cross-cultural studies; individual case histories; and personal accounts of experiences or related phenomena.
Date: Winter 1991
Creator: Greyson, Bruce
Object Type: Journal/Magazine/Newsletter
System: The UNT Digital Library
Glimpses of Utopia Near Death? A Rejoinder (open access)

Glimpses of Utopia Near Death? A Rejoinder

Abstract: Five scholars have offered comments, suggestions, and criticisms of my paper "Near-Death Experiences and Pursuit of the Ideal Society." In this rejoinder, I reply to those comments and elaborate on aspects of my earlier paper. I discuss issues of methodology, epistemology, validity, logic, and other social considerations with respect to the plausibility of viewing some near-death imagery as utopian. I conclude with some reflections on the social character and study of the near-death experience.
Date: Winter 1991
Creator: Kellehear, Allan
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Near-Death Experiences and the Pursuit of the Ideal Society (open access)

Near-Death Experiences and the Pursuit of the Ideal Society

Article arguing that the society so often mentioned by near-death experiencers is a unique type of utopian society. As stories from utopia, near-death experiences (NDEs) serve an inspirational narratives that help re-evaluate the social world and our place in it.
Date: Winter 1991
Creator: Kellehear, Allan
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Critique of Kellehear's Transcendent Society (open access)

A Critique of Kellehear's Transcendent Society

Article responding to Allen Kellehear's cultural analysis based on nine Mormon near-death experiences (NDEs) did not reflect the diversity of near-death visions from other cultures. It suggests that these Mormon NDEs were neither as utopian as Kellehear assumed nor representative of contemporary NDE reports, and that a more complete analysis would reveal a variety of NDEs and otherworld visions reflecting the experiencers' sociocultural background.
Date: Winter 1991
Creator: Mickel, Howard A.
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Commentary on Allan Kellehear's "Near-Death Experiences and the Pursuit of the Ideal Society" (open access)

Commentary on Allan Kellehear's "Near-Death Experiences and the Pursuit of the Ideal Society"

Abstract: Allan Kellehear's article raised four questions for me: (1) whether the near-death experience (NDE) presents enough data about the nature of a transcendent society for it to be a useful model for earthly societies; (2) the degree to which transcendent societies have to address the practical considerations of a material society; (3) whether NDEs are projections of experiencers' cultural concepts about the nature of the transcendent realm(s); and (4) the kind of hope offered by the growing awareness of the features of Western NDEs. I address these questions by referring to transcendent realm concepts and NDEs in the anthropological literature, particularly that of the North American Indian Prophet Movement.
Date: Winter 1991
Creator: Mills, Antonia
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
"Being One with God Is Something That Can Be Done Without Rules": Commentary on Allan Kellehear's "Near-Death Experiences and the Pursuit of the Ideal Society" (open access)

"Being One with God Is Something That Can Be Done Without Rules": Commentary on Allan Kellehear's "Near-Death Experiences and the Pursuit of the Ideal Society"

Abstract: Allan Kellehear's article is a pioneering venture exploring features of the transcendent society and comparing it with J.C. Davis's typology of ideal societies. Kellehear assumed that in the life after life there is a sociocultural ordering that can be discussed via structural functional theory and concepts; and he also assumed internal and external validity, despite evidence tot he contrary in his article. I think both of these assumptions are incorrect. What we need are alternative sociocultural frameworks and alternative research strategies, possibly from the "new science."
Date: Winter 1991
Creator: Weibust, Patricia S.
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library