Life After Death

By Tom Harpur

Book Overview

Is there life after death? This question has puzzled humankind from time immemorial. For thousands of years religions the world over have taught that life does not end at death. Ancient Egyptians used to bury boats with their dead for transport to a new life. Medieval Christendom was rife with graphic, "eye-witness" descriptions of heaven and hell. In the West today, many people claim to have seen or heard from the dead; others have "remembered" past lives while under hypnosis. Still other have experienced "death" and have returned with remarkably similar stories to tell. Yet sceptics, agnostics, and atheists have challenged or rejected the notion of an afterlife, arguing that there is no proof of it whatsoever. Who is right? In Life After Death, Tom Harpur, religious scholar, journalist, and best-selling author, takes a fresh and wide-ranging look at the question. He searches with an open mind, not for proof, but for evidence, within science, psychology, the Bible, the tenets of world religions, and the extraordinary experiences of ordinary people. And the evidence he meticulously assembles points unfalteringly towards one, logical conclusion: "Death is very much like birth. It is the traumatic but essential passage into a new phase of life." Life After Death is an extensively researched and eloquently reasoned investigation, which radiates the author's intelligence and scholarship. Harpur's powerful conclusions will challenge believers and sceptics alike. One thing is certain his message will inspire all readers to reassess the meaning of life. From the Hardcover edition.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0771039417
• ISBN13: 9780771039416
• Release Date: March 1992
• Publisher: McClelland & Stewart
• Length: 295 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Credible, lucid, fascinating

Harpur, a faith and values columnist for the Toronto Star, tackles one of those subjects with no definitive answer and does so with clarity and thoroughness. An Anglican minister and former professor of Greek and New Testament, he examines everything from near-death experiences and reincarnation to the Bible and what other faiths have to say on the subject of life after death. On top of that, he spends an entire chapter on what was then (1991) the latest from the world of science. In the end, Harpur concludes "to trust there there is a life after death is to trust God. It is to trust that the ultimate energy at the foundations of the universe is love." If you've read the book that far, you'll likely agree. Just note, however, this most definitely is NOT a book meant for fundamentalists of any faith. But it is very, very readable and informative.

A fascinating and convincing book

Tom Harpur is very convincing in his case for the possibility a hereafter. With great insight and evidence, he succeeds in clarifying much of what is misunderstood about Christ, the Bible and the apostles. This is the best book I have read on this subject. Harpur's evidence is both scientific and philosophical. The lucid Mr. Harpur has done more to convince me than anyone else.