{"product_id":"9780190281588","title":"Otherworld Journeys: Accounts of Near-Death Experience in Medieval and Modern Times","description":"Dozens of books, articles, television shows, and films relating \"near-death\" experiences have appeared in the past decade.   People who have survived a close brush with death reveal their extraordinary visions and ecstatic feelings at the moment they died, describing journeys through a tunnel to a realm of light, visual reviews of their past deeds, encounters with a benevolent spirit, and permanent transformation after returning to life.       Carol Zaleski's Otherworld Journeys offers the most comprehensive treatment to date of the evidence surrounding near-death experiences.  The first to place researchers' findings, first-person accounts, and possible medical or psychological explanations in historical perspective, she discusses how these materials reflect the influence of contemporary culture.  She demonstrates that modern near-death reports belong to a vast family of otherworld journey tales, with examples in nearly every religious heritage.  She identifies universal as well as culturally specific features by comparing near-death narratives in two distinct periods of Western society: medieval Christendom and twentieth-century secular America. This comparison reveals profound similarities, such as the life-review and the transforming after-effects of the vision, as well as striking contrasts, such as the absence of hell or punishment scenes from modern accounts.        Mediating between the \"debunkers\" and the near-death researchers, Zaleski considers current efforts to explain near-death experience scientifically.  She concludes by emphasizing the importance of the otherworld vision for understanding imaginative and religious experience in general.","brand":"Oxford University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47072471548144,"sku":"9780190281588","price":28.49,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780190281588_p0.jpg?v=1769912109","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780190281588","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}