Beyond Heaven and Earth

by Steven H. Propp

  Hospice Care: The Hospice Movement by Sandol Stoddard, The Complete Hospice Guide by Robert W. Buckingham, The Hospice Heritage (ed. Inge B. Corless & Zelda Foster), and The Hospice Choice by Marcia Lattanzi-Licht.

  I AM Movement: (www.saintgermainfoundation.org) There are many books by “Godfré Ray King” (Guy Ballard) such as Unveiled Mysteries and The Magic Presence. An absolutely indispensable critical work is Psychic Dictatorship In America by Kenneth and Talita Paolini.

  Indian (East) Religion: An extremely helpful book is The Spiritual Heritage of India by Swami Prabhavananda, as is An Introduction to Indian Philosophy by Satischandra Chatterjee and Dhirendramohan Datta, and Religions of India by Thomas Berry. An intellectually powerful but overly critical perspective is Indian Thought and Its Development by the philosopher, theologian, musician, and profound humanitarian Albert Schweitzer.

  Islam: (www.islamicity.org) The English Qur’?n translation I used here was The Holy Qur’?n by Abdullah Yusuf Ali (reportedly the most common English translation used by Muslims in America), but other English translations are The Glorious Qur’an by Mohammed Marmaduke Pickthall, and Holy Qur?n by M. H. Shakir. Books dealing primarily with life after death are Paradise and Hell by Umar Sulaiman Al-Ashqar, The Resurrection and the Afterlife by Ali Ünal, Resurrection, Judgement and the Hereafter by Sayyid Mujtaba Musavi Lari, The End of the Journey by Abdullah Muhammad Khouj, and Resurrection and the Hereafter by Bediuzzaman Said Nursi. General works on Islam are The Oxford History of Islam, Muhammad (biography) by Michael Cook, Islam by Fazlur Rahman, and Women In Islam by Naila Minai. Critical works are Why I Am Not a Muslim and The Origins of the Koran by Ibn Warraq, Islam, Muhammad and the Koran by Labib Mikhail, Answering Islam by famed philosophical apologist Norman Geisler and Abdul Saleeb, The Islamic Invasion by Robert Morey (Dr. Morey is particularly good on the Hadith), and the Islam Debate by Josh McDowell (the famous apologist opposing articulate Islamic defender Ahmed Deedat).

  Jainism: (www.jainism.org) Life Force by Michael Tobias and Realize What You Are; The Dynamics of Jain Meditation by Gurudev S. Chitrabhanu.

  Japanese Religion: Japanese Religion and Religion In the Japanese Experience by H. Byron Earhart, On Understanding Japanese Religion by Joseph Kitagawa, and Japanese Religion: A Survey (published by the Agency for Cultural Affairs).

  Jehovah’s Witnesses: (www.watchtower.org) Their main publications for eschatology and prophecy that I used were: Pay Attention to Daniel’s Prophecy; Revelation: Its Grand Climax At Hand; You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth; Knowledge That Leads to Everlasting Life; and Is This Life All There Is? Their official history is given in the book, Jehovah’s Witnessess—Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom. Books discussing their organization are Organized To Accomplish Our Ministry, Organization for Kingdom-Preaching and Disciple-Making, and Theocratic Ministry School Guidebook. Their translation of the Bible is the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (I used the 1984 revision), and interpretative works are Insight On the Scriptures (two volumes), Reasoning from the Scriptures, and Aid to Bible Understanding. The most interesting books that take a critical view of the Witnesses are those of Raymond Franz (former member of the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses, and nephew of the late Watch Tower Society president Frederick W. Franz): Crisis of Conscience and In Search of Christian Freedom. Other critical books are Blood On the Altar by David A. Reed, Jehovah of the Watchtower by Walter Martin, and Jehovah’s Witnesses by Anthony Hoekema.

  Jodo Shinshu (Pure Land) Buddhism: (www.buddhistchurchesofamerica.com) The founder Shinran’s books Ky?gy?shinsh? and Passages On the Pure Land Way are obvious essentials. Other books include Naturalness by Kenryo Kanamatsu, Donald R. Tuck’s Buddhist Churches of America, Taitetsu Unno’s vastly illuminating books Shin Buddhism and River of Fire, River of Water; Seigen Yamoka’s True Pure Land Buddhism; and The Teaching of Buddha (published by Bukky? Dend? Ky?kai). A wonderful (and completely unexpected) book is Buddha of Infinite Light by the premier Zen authority D.T. Suzuki.

  Juche: (http://www.cnet-ta.ne.jp/juche/defaulte.htm) Juche by Thomas Belke.

  Judaism (see also Zionism): (www.torah.org, www.uscj.org, www.rj.org, & www.jrf.org) The translation of the Tanakh I used was the 1985 version from the Jewish Publication Society. For Jewish views on an afterlife, I found extremely useful Jewish Views of the Afterlife by Simcha Paull Raphael, as well as The Jewish Way in Death and Mourning by Maurice Lamm, Does the Soul Survive? by Elie Kaplan Spitz, and What Happens After I Die? by Rifat Sonsino and Daniel B. Syme (see also their Finding God: Ten Jewish Responses). General works were The Jewish Information Source Book by Ronald H. Isaacs, What You Thought You Knew About Judaism by Reuven P. Bulka, The Jewish Book of Why and The Second Jewish Book of Why by Alfred J. Kolatch, and A Rabbi Talks With Jesus by Jacob Neusner. Other Jewish perspectives are Mordecai M. Kaplan’s (the founder of the Reconstructionist movement) Judaism As a Civilization, and Judaism Beyond God by Sherwin Wine. Rabbi Tovia Singer’s Let’s Get Biblical tapes and study guide are good responses to “Christian” criticisms of traditional Jewish theology, distributed by Outreach Judaism (see www.outreachjudaism.org). Faith After the Holocaust by Eliezer Berkovits is an important book on this crucial question.

  Krishnamurti: (www.kfa.org) Mary Lutyens’ 3-volume biography (The Years of Awakening, The Years of Fulfillment, and The Open Door) are very helpful. Krishnamurti’s books are many, including Commentaries On Living, You Are the World, and Life Ahead. A good starting place is The Penguin Krishnamurti Reader.

  Kriyananda (J. Donald Walters)/Ananda: (www.ananda.org) His autobiography is entitled The Path.

  Latter-Day Saints/Mormons: (www.lds.org) Absolutely essential is the 4-volume Encyclopedia of Mormonism edited by Daniel H. Ludlow (particularly the topics Armageddon; Celestial Kingdom; Damnation; Degrees of Glory; Devils; Endless and Eternal; Endowment; Eternal Life; Eternal Progression; Exaltation; Godhead; Godhood; Heaven; Hell; Jerusalem; Jesus Christ: Second Coming of Jesus Christ; Judgment; Millennium; Mother In Heaven; Paradise; Plan of Salvation; Premortal Life; Resurrection; Salvation of the Dead; Sons of Perdition; Spirit World; Telestial Kingdom; Terrestrial Kingdom; War In Heaven), as well as Mormon Doctrine by Bruce R. McConkie. Also excellent were Life Everlasting by Duane Crowther, The Life Beyond by Robert L. Miller and Joseph Fielding McConkie, The Articles of Faith by James Talmage, and As a Thief In the Night by Dan Erickson. Also, good for “beginners” (and visually interesting) is A New Look At Mormonism by John W. Rich. The best by far of the critical works by traditional Christians is Mormonism: Shadow Or Reality? by Jerald and Sandra Tanner. Other critical books are Inside Mormonism by Isaiah Bennett, and The Maze of Mormonism by Walter Martin.

  Life After Death/Immortality (General): Probably the best single book is The Doctrine of a Future Life by William Rounseville Alger. Also excellent are Life After Death In World Religions by Harold Coward, Death and Immortality In the Religions of the World (ed. Paul and Linda Badham), What Happens When You Die? (ed. August H. Wagner), and Immortality by Ashley Montagu. George Gallup’s surveys are found in Adventures In Immortality. Elizabeth Kübler-Ross’s views on the afterlife are found in On Life After Death. “Evidentiary” books include The Afterlife Experiments by Gary E. Schwartz, The Scole Experiment by Grant & Jane Solomon, The Physics of Immortality by Frank J. Tipler, Death and Consciousness by David H. Lund, Soul Search by David Darling, In Search Of the Dead by Jeffrey Iverson, Personal Existence After Death by Robert J. Geis, Death & Personal Survival by Robert Almeder, Immortality: The Scientific Evidence by Alson J. Smith, Scientific Evidence of the Existence of the Soul by Benito F. Reyes, Immortality: Startling Evidence by Jess Stearn, The Evidence For Life After Death by Martin Ebon, The Case for Immortality by Allen Spraggett, The Case for Life After Death by Elizabeth E. McAdams and Raymond Bayless, A Matter of Personal Survival by Michael Marsh, You Will Survive After Death by Sherwood Eddy, Surviving Death by Geoff Viney, What Happens Af
ter Death by Migene González-Wippler, and After Death by Sukie Miller. Other general works include Beyond Deah by transpersonal psychologists Stanislav and Christina Grof, AfterLife by Carol Neiman & Emily Goldman, Through the Gates of Death by Dion Fortune, Soulmaker by Mike Grosso, Man Does Survive Death by D. Scott Rogo, Life After Death by Hans Holzer, Life After Death & The World Beyond by Jenny Randles (better known as a UFOlogist) and Peter Hough, Life Is Forever by Susy Smith, In Heaven As On Earth by M. Scott Peck, and Physical Immortality by Leonard Orr. The Great Soul Trial by John G. Fuller is a fascinating account of a judicial ruling on the most likely means of “proof” of life after death. A book/video series is Life After Death by Tom Harpur. Philosophical treatments (mostly critical) include The Illusion of Immortality by Corliss Lamont (the famous Humanist), Immortality (a collection of readings, ed. by Paul Edwards), A Critical Examination of the Belief In a Life After Death by C.J. Ducasse, Merely Mortal? by Anthony Flew, Death and Eternal Life by John H. Hick, and Is There Life After Death? by Robert Kastenbaum.

  Maharishi Mahesh Yogi: (www.tm.org) The basic book is of course Transcendental Meditation. A popular introductory book written at the height of the Beatles/Mia Farrow craze is Maharishi, the Guru (ed. Martin Ebon).

  Mediums/Clairvoyants/Psychics/Séances: Famous books by earlier mediums include Incidents In My Life (autobiography) and Lights and Shadows of Spiritualism by Daniel D. Home, My Life In Two Worlds by Gladys Osborne Leonard (see also Susy Smith’s favorable biography, The Mediumship of Mrs.

  Leonard), Sittings With Eusapia Palladino by Everard Feiling, Eusapia Palladino and Her Phenomena by Hereward Carrington, and From India to the Planet Mars by Théodore Flournoy. Recent books by mediums and psychics include The Séance by Suzanne Northrop, Sylvia Browne’s Life On the Other Side and The Other Side and Back; James Van Praagh’s Talking to Heaven, Reaching To Heaven, and Heaven and Earth; John Edward’s One Last Time, Messages by George E. Dalzell, Rosemary Altea’s The Eagle and the Rose, Proud Spirit and You Own the Power; Craig Hamilton-Parker’s What To Do When You Are Dead, Lessons From the Light by George Anderson, Mary T. Browne’s Life After Death, Questions from Earth, Answers From Heaven by Char Margolis, Communicating With the Dead by Linda Georgian, She Talks With Angels by Michelle Whitedove, Conversations With the Spirit World by Lysa Moskowitz-Mateu, and The Clairvoyant by Hans Holzer. Older books include Mediums of the 19th Century and The Newer Spiritualism by Frank Podmore, The Book On Mediums by Allan Kardec, Revelations of A Spirit Medium by Harry Price, The Betty Book, Across the Unknown, and The Unobstructed Universe by Stewart Edward White; 30 Years Among the Dead by Carl A. Wickland; Many Voices (an autobiography), Adventures In the Supernormal, Telepathy and The Sense and Nonsense of Prophecy by Eileen J. Garrett (see also Hereward Carrington’s study of her, The Case for Psychic Survival); Ena Twigg: Medium by Ena Twigg, The Reluctant Prophet by Daniel Logan, and Jess Stearn’s The Miracle Workers. Arthur Ford’s books include his autobiography Nothing So Strange, as well as Unknown But Known and The Life Beyond Death. An extremely informative critical biography of Arthur Ford is Arthur Ford: The Man Who Talked With the Dead by Allen Spraggett. Ruth Montgomery’s books primarily dealing with life after death are Here and Hereafter and A World Beyond. General works include We Don’t Die, We Are Not Forgotten, Love Beyond Life, and Our Children Forever by Joel Martin and Patricia Romanowski, and Harold Sherman’s The Dead Are Alive. Former medium M. Lamar Keene wrote a book, The Psychic Mafia, claiming that many mediums (including himself) were frauds.

  Meher Baba: (www.meherbaba.com) His most well-known book is Listen, Humanity (ed. D.E. Stevens); another is Sparks of the Truth. An introductory work and biography is Much Silence by Tom & Dorothy Hopkinson.

  Muktananda: (www.siddhayoga.org) His books include Play of Consciousness and Selected Essays. A short biography is A Perfect Life by Margaret Simpson.

  Native American (American Indian): The Encyclopedia of North American Indians (ed. Frederick E. Hoxie), The Way of the Shaman by Michael Harner, The Wisdom of the Native Americans (ed. Kent Nerburn), Black Elk Speaks (told through John

  G. Neihardt), Teachings From the American Earth (ed. Dennis Tedlock and Barbara Tedlock), and Native American Religion by Nancy Bonvillan.

  Near-Death Experiences: The most important “critical” book is Susan Blackmore’s Dying To Live. Among “pro” viewpoints, The Journal of Near-Death Studies (www.iands.org) is essential, as is The Vestibule by Jess E. Weiss (who even preceded Moody), and of course Raymond A. Moody’s (www.lifeafterlife.com) books Life After Life, Reflections On Life After Life, The Light Beyond, Coming Back, Reunions, and the (surprisingly bad-tempered, for Dr. Moody) The Last Laugh. Melvin Morse’s books are Closer To the Light, Transformed By the Light, Parting Visions, and Where God Lives. Other key researchers and books are At the Hour of Death by Karlis Osis and Erlendur Haraldsson; Kenneth Ring’s The Omega Project, Heading Toward Omega, and Life At Death; Recollections Of Death and Light & Death by Michael Sabom; The Near-Death Experience (ed. Bruce Greyson & Charles P. Flynn); A Collection of Near-Death Readings by Craig R. Lundahl, as well as his The Eternal Journey (with Harold A. Widdison). Some books by “experiencers” include Dannion Brinkley (Saved By the Light and At Peace In the Light), Betty Eadie (Embraced By the Light, The Awakening Heart), Full Circle by Barbara Harris, After the Light by Kimberly Clark Sharp, My Glimpse Of Eternity by Betty Malz, Return From Tomorrow by George Ritchie, Absent From the Body by Don Brubaker, and Beyond the Darkness by Angie Fenimore (a journey to “Hell”). Other books include Experiences Near Death by Allan Kellehear, Religion, Spirituality and the Near-Death Experience by Mark Fox,

  P.M.H. Atwater’s Children of the New Millennium, Coming Back To Life and Beyond the Light, Carol Zaleski’s Otherworld Journeys and The Life of the World to Come, Return From Death by Margot Grey, Reborn In the Light by Cherie Sutherland, Peter and Elizabeth Fenwick’s The Truth In the Light, Love Is the Link by Pamela M. Kircher, After the Beyond by Charles P. Flynn, Glimpses of the Beyond by Jean-Baptiste Delacour, The Journey Home by Phillip L. Berman, Death Encounters by Charles Fiore and Alan Landsburg, Journey To the Other Side by David R. Wheeler, The Return From Silence by D. Scott Rogo, The After-Death Experience by Ian Wilson, and One With the Light by Brad Steiger. A Mormon/LDS perspective is found in Echoes From Eternity by Arvin Gibson. Conservative Christian critiques of some common interpretations of NDEs are found in the books by Maurice Rawlings (an M.D.), Beyond Death’s Door and To Hell and Back; Journey Into the Light and Embraced By the Light and the Bible by Richard Abanes; The Other Side of Death by Tal Brooke, Deceived By the Light by Doug Groothius, Is There Life After Death? by John Weldon and Zola Levitt, The Edge of Death by Phillip J. Swihart, and Beyond and Back by Ralph Wilkerson.

  Neo-Paganism, Witchcraft, Wicca, and Feminist Spirituality: The best overall history is Ronald Hutton’s The Triumph of the Moon, as well as Margot Adler’s Drawing Down the Moon. Other books include Cynthia Eller’s Living In the Lap of the Goddess (see also her book, The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory), Pagan Paths by Pete Jennings, Changing of the Gods by Naomi R. Goldenberg, Earthly Bodies, Magical Selves by Sarah M. Pike, The Women’s Spirituality Book by Diane Stein, and A God Who Looks Like Me by Patricia Lynn Reilly. Books by some of the most well-known practitioners include Starhawk’s books Spiral Dance, Truth or Dare, and Dreaming the Dark; Zsuzsanna (“Z”) E. Budapest’s books The Holy Book of Women’s Mysteries, The Goddess In the Bedroom, and The Goddess In the Office; Sybil Leek’s Diary of a Witch and The Complete Art of Witchcraft. Other books include A Community of Witches by Helen A. Berger, The Wicca Source Book by Gerina Dunwich, Vivianne Crowley’s Wicca; The Wicca Handbook by Eileen Holland, and Scott Cunningham’s The Truth About Witchcraft Today. Older works are Margaret A. Murray’s The God of the Witches, and Gerald Gardner’s Witchcraft Today and The Meaning of Witchcraft. A critical look is Jeffrey Kaplan’s Radical Religion In America. A fascinating study of “Black Metal�
� music is Lords of Chaos by Michael Moynihan and Didrik Søderlind. A critical Christian perspective is found in The Goddess Revival by Aida Besancon Spencer (and others).

  New Age: There are trillions of zillions of books in this area. The New Age Catalogue (ed. Body, Mind Spirit magazine) is a good overview. A few of the more important and/or influential books are Marilyn Ferguson’s The Aquarian Conspiracy, The Tao of Physics by Fritjof Capra, Quantum Healing by Deepak Chopra, A New Science of Life by Rupert Sheldrake, The Dream of the Earth by Thomas Berry, Jean Houston’s The Possible Human, and Stanislav Grof’s books such as The Holotropic Mind. Most famous are Shirley MacLaine’s books, Out On A Limb, Dancing In the Light, Going Within, It’s All In The Playing, and The Camino. Christian critical perspectives (that don’t go too far off the “deep end”) include Understanding the New Age by Russell Chandler, Catholics and the New Age by Mitch Pacwa, and The New Age Cult by Walter Martin.

  New Thought/Mind Science/Divine Science: (www.uniteddivinescience.org) Two wonderful survey books are The History and Philosophy of the Metaphysical Movements In America by J. Stillson Judah and Spirits In Rebellion by Charles S. Braden, as well as A History of the New Thought Movement by Horatio W. Dresser, and From Mesmer to Christian Science by Frank Podmore. Phineas Parkhurst Quimby’s most important writings are found in The Quimby Manuscripts (ed. Horatio W. Dresser). Other important books/teachers are Emma Curtis Hopkins’ Scientific Christian Practice, Warren Felt Evans’ Primitive Mind-Cure and Mental Medicine, Nona Brooks’ In the Light of Healing and Mysteries, Dominion and Power by Charles Brodie Patterson, Reincarnation Or Immortality? by Ursula Gestefeld, The Edinburgh & Doré Lectures on Mental Science by Thomas Troward, Divine Science by Malinda Cramer and Fannie Brooks James, In Tune With the Infinite and What All the World’s A-Seeking by Ralph Waldo Trine, and Stake Your Claim by Emmet Fox. There is also a whole series of “Collected Essays” of New Thought pioneers such as Frederick Bailes, Raymond Charles Barker, George Bendall, Robert Bitzer, Joel S. Goldsmith, Stuart Grayson, Joseph Murphy, and Ervin Seale.