A thoroughly researched, if highly speculative, interpretation of near-death accounts.
Rudolph (Eyre: The Forgotten Explorer, 2014, etc.) explores the phenomenon of near-death experiences through a Christian lens in this religious work.
When Rudolph was a boy, his father had a heart attack and underwent a near-death experience that he described as “wonderful.” Ever since, the author has been fascinated by the phenomenon of NDEs, which he has pursued, at various times, as a university student, a Christian, and a writer conducting independent research. Culling from thousands of NDE accounts from people around the world, Rudolph has formed an understanding of them based on his own Christian faith. As he sees it, “an NDE is a spiritual gift from God to act as a personal course correction; it is a learning experience during a brush with death.” Rudolph analyzes the reports of numerous individuals who have undergone NDEs (both religious people and atheists), searching for commonalities and attempting to establish the parameters of the process. He uses Scripture and the works of religious thinkers to hypothesize how these processes relate to the movement of the spirit and the soul, and how different types of NDEs might represent different messages delivered from God. Rudolph then extrapolates how the visualizations encountered during NDEs can tell readers much about the structure and nature of the afterlife, even down to the music, boundaries, and the absence of ethnicity in paradise. Rudolph writes in clear, conversational prose, quoting widely from the many chronicles he has collected. Those interested in the NDE phenomenon may appreciate the author’s take, but its fundamental religiosity will likely vex those of more skeptical or secular dispositions. In addressing something so difficult to explain or quantify, Rudolph comes across surprisingly confident in his NDE model and its religious implications. The excitement surrounding NDEs is due in large part to their suggestion that there is something on the other side of death. But Rudolph’s book proves that because readers still can’t know exactly what that something is, they are free to project upon it whatever afterlife they wish to imagine.
A thoroughly researched, if highly speculative, interpretation of near-death accounts.Pub Date: Dec. 7, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-5127-1697-9
Page Count: 374
Publisher: Westbow Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 11, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
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