Recently, the famed Al Pacino had a Near-Death Experience (NDE), came “back to life” and declared there was nothing after death. Putting aside his epistemic superiority (I mean, he’s Scarface so whatever he says about reality makes more sense, right?!), it was interesting to see NDEs’ pop up in the news again.
Note on defn: An NDE refers to a case where someone suffered clinical death (and usually pronounced dead) but then was resuscitated. Hence, the ‘near’ doesn’t mean the person never died; it means she didn’t stay dead. In many cases, people who have ‘come back from the dead’ share stories of experiencing a post-death reality more real (and full of joy, love, etc.) than this one, seeing departed loved ones and friends, being told they need to ‘go back’ to earth, etc. NDEs’ are generally fascinating because they:
a) have occurred so many times (and some even “verified”, see ref below), and to individuals from multiple cultures and demographics, that it’s difficult to write off as all being a hoax
b) are difficult to interpret; in a way, NDE’s mirror the phenomenon of ‘evil spirits’ (or just ‘spirits’) which poses problems for both materialistic and religious perspectives
c) are impossible to replicate or ‘test’ properly (although check out the studies below) but countless cross-demographic testimonies make it difficult to reject outright
I first came across NDEs many years ago from a book by JP Moreland. Basically forgot all about it until last year when I picked up John Burke’s book who even compared the NDE testimonies with texts in the Bible. The “cool” part is when the NDE individuals talk about music, light, colour, fruit, the feeling of overwhelming love and joy, seeing friends and loved ones who’ve passed before, and links it passages in Revelations (and 2 Corinthians 12:2 no less!).
My take? This entire topic is fun (and, at times, even a bit ‘inspirational’) but I can’t imagine taking it more seriously beyond “Okay this is interesting.” I don’t think ppl of monotheistic faith ‘need’ NDEs to sustain their beliefs any more than Christians need the Shroud of Turin to be real (failing which Jesus is a fake, gasp!).
Having said that, I’m aware that many people have had their lives transformed for the good after an NDE. In a world as messed up as ours, I guess I ain’t got any complaints there.
(Selected Biblio)
Christian works on NDEs:
1. Burke, J. (2015). Imagine Heaven: Near-death experiences, God’s promises, and the exhilarating future that awaits you. Baker Books. If you’re inclined towards the idea of NDE being evidence of heaven, this book is probably for you. Note that Burke also discusses the dark aspect of NDEs i.e. it’s not always heaven one visits (ahem).
2. Davis, A. M. (2021). The Glory Now Revealed: What We’ll Discover about God in Heaven. Baker Books. This one isn’t exactly on NDEs’ but about “what the Bible says about life after death”, in fact there’s a line in it in which the author basically disparages NDEs’ as Biblically false.
3. Habermas, G. R., & Moreland, J. P. (2004). Beyond death: Exploring the evidence for immortality. Wipf and Stock Publishers. Funny thing is I found the non-NDE evidence for the soul more convincing lol
Studies supporting a non-materialistic / non-reductionistic view of NDEs
3. Parnia, S., Post, S. G., Lee, M. T., Lyubomirsky, S., Aufderheide, T. P., Deakin, C. D., … & Shirazi, T. K. (2022). Guidelines and standards for the study of death and recalled experiences of death — a multidisciplinary consensus statement and proposed future directions. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.
4. Parnia, S. (2017). Understanding the cognitive experience of death and the near-death experience. QJM: An International Journal of Medicine, 110(2), 67–69.
5. Woollacott, M., & Peyton, B. (2021). Verified account of near-death experience in a physician who survived cardiac arrest. EXPLORE, 17(3), 213–219.
Works skeptical about NDE
1. Fischer, J. M., & Mitchell-Yellin, B. (2016). Near-death experiences: Understanding visions of the afterlife. Oxford University Press. Whilst I appreciate Fischer’s rigour (he co-authored a remarkable book on free-will a while back), I felt this time he and Mitchell-Yellin seem to adopt a kind of Procrustean bed approach. Not sure if I’m representing them fairly but I suspect they’ve essentially decided on the non-existence of the after-life and just proceeded to interpret everything in that light.
Google “Science NDE” for many more articles.
