Dying Religions

After her brother died unexpectedly and her mother moved into a dementia-care facility, spiritual travel writer and Episcopal deacon Lori Erickson felt called to a new quest: to face death head-on, with the eye of a tourist and the heart of a pastor. Blending memoir, spirituality, and travel, Near the Exit examines how cultures confront and have confronted death by investigating Egypt's Valley of the Kings, Mayan temples, Colorado cremation pyres, Day of the Dead celebrations, Maori settlements, and tourist-destination graveyards.

Thomas G. Long, one of America's most trusted and thoughtful pulpit voices, provides a much needed theological and cultural critique of today's Christian funeral. Long begins by describing how the Christian funeral developed historically, theologically, and liturgically and then discusses recent cultural trends in funeral practices, including the rise in number of cremations and memorial services.

Visit the timeless rhythms of the Christian life with award-winning author Harold L. Senkbeil. As he addresses the concerns and pressures of the world today, you'll discover that even while the world is dying, Christ's death brings about life. True life. One that He offers to you.

The loss of a loved one is devastating, and the grief that follows is often crippling. While modern Western culture has adopted an aren't-you-over-it-yet? attitude toward death and the grief it brings, the grieving process can take years. Weeks and months go by with no visible improvement. We...

Real-life stories of out-of-body experiences, encountering a special light, greeters from the afterlife, life reviews, tunnels, and 360-degree vision - are all part of this intriguing look at near-death experiences (NDEs) by one of the world's noted authorities, P.M.H. Atwater. Atwater shares her amazing findings, based on her sessions with more than 4,000 adults and children, and over 40 years of research; a breathtaking culmination to a successful and controversial career.

When we’re standing at the gravesite, death gives little closure and leaves many questions unanswered. Despite the common claim that “dying is just a natural part of life,“ people seem to avoid this unsettling subject more than ever. Yet the Bible doesn’t shy away from the reality of death. God’s Word has the answers we need to face the grave with confidence in our risen Redeemer. In this book, Dr. Guy Waters provides the Bible’s answers to essential questions about death, dying, and what comes after this life.

In Diary of a Death Doula, psychic medium and near-death experience researcher Debra Diamond presents the story of life as a hospice "Death Doula," revealing 25 critical life lessons from those at the threshold of the afterlife, and those who have already crossed over, ultimately revealing a new way of understanding death.

In his most ambitious work yet, Shermer sets out to discover what drives humans' belief in life after death, focusing on recent scientific attempts to achieve immortality by radical life extentionists, extropians, transhumanists, cryonicists, and mind uploaders, along with utopians who have attempted to create heaven on earth.

In the course of caring for the ill or dying, health care professionals are sometimes the only ones available to provide spiritual comfort to their patients. In our modern pluralistic society, where patients could come from any number of religious traditions, it can often be difficult to find exactly the right words in these situations.

In What Does It Feel Like to Die?, Jennie Dear combines the latest research and medical findings with her own experiences as a hospice volunteer and caregiver to answer the questions we all want to know. As a long-time hospice volunteer, Jennie Dear has helped countless patients, families, and caregivers cope with the many challenges of the dying process. Inspired by her own personal journey with her mother's long-term illness, Dear demystifies the experience of dying for everyone whose lives it touches.

In this mini-audiobook collection of essays, prominent atheist author Greta Christina offers secular ways to handle your own mortality and the death of those you love. Blending intensely personal experience with compassionate, down-to-earth wisdom, Christina (Coming out Atheist and Why Are You Atheists So Angry?) explores a variety of natural philosophies of death.

Bringing Death to Life shines light onto a subject that is too often feared or avoided in our everyday conversations: death. But the authors of this book suggest that it might be wiser to recognize, understand, and accept death, rather than be frightened of it. When Patricia lost her parents, she experienced a journey of loss and grief, which later became the catalyst for this book.

What do you say to someone who has been diagnosed with a terminal disease? How can you help someone who knows they are dying or people who have just said good-bye for the last time to someone they love? You want to help, but how can you be sure you aren't doing more harm than good? What should you say about God, heaven, or prayer? Author Patrick Shawn Riecke answers these questions after 20 years of helping the sick, dying, and grieving. You will encounter the best ways to talk with people in what he calls Phase Three - life's most difficult moments.

With a balance of wisdom, candor, and scholarly rigor, the beloved archbishop emeritus of Philadelphia, Charles J. Chaput, traces the human experience from ancient times to today to find threads of connection in our yearning for God, love, honor, beauty, truth, and immortality. He looks at our modern appetite for consumption and individualism and offers a penetrating analysis of how we got here and how we can look to our roots and our faith to find purpose each day amid the noise of competing desires.

In this deeply affecting and uplifting book, Janet Wehr shares the real-life stories of her many years as a hospice nurse. Her first-hand account gives illuminating and comforting insight into the spiritual aspect of what occurs in the transition between life and death, highlighting the importance of the mind-body-spirit connection as it manifests in the dying process. It also gives a candid impression of hospices and hospice nurses and the services they can provide. All of Janet’s 46 personal stories are true, fascinating, heart-felt, and thought-provoking.

Church congregations all across the United States are searching for the magic bullet, the secret to attracting people, growing their membership and their cultural relevance. They are looking for the right program, or the right environment, or the right features to help bring people back into the pews. With all of this searching for the right answer, they're missing what's right in front of them: Word and Sacrament.

What happens after we die? Where does our soul go? An experience that will never let you go. Encounters that are difficult to explain. How being a highly sensitive person has its challenges in life. Themes that deal with life and death, and the question of what comes next after we leave this planet. Based on her profound insight into these provocative questions, Monica Hards tells in her book Dying to Live of her own out-of-body and near-death experiences and much more.

Life's inconveniences, disappointments, and trials can leave us confused, cynical, and eventually bitter. But the apostle Paul traces out the path of dying and rising with Jesus — what Paul Miller calls the “J-Curve” — as the normal Christian life.

Was ist der Tod, wie bereite ich mich vor und was kommt danach? Was passiert genau beim Vorgang des Sterbens? Wie beeinflusst mein gelebtes Leben bzw. vor allem meine aktuelle Bewusstheit und innere Reife den Prozess des Übergangs? Wie besteht unser Bewusstsein im Jenseits weiter fort und welche Wege kann es einschlagen nach dem Übergang? Welche Bedeutung hat Reinkarnation in diesem Zusammenhang?

The Art of Dying Well gives a rough sketch of how to live life well, so that one can die well, and have confidence before the judgment seat of Christ. It is a timeless classic of the Catholic world, and the advice St. Bellarmine gives rings as true now as it did 400 years ago.