認識死後世界 - 繁 What Happens When We Die? - Trad. 认识死后世界 - 繁
Death comes to us all – but what happens after that? It’s a question which has
become newly poignant during the last year. Forced to face up to the inevitability
of death, Alison Morgan decided to take a critical look at all the views on offer.
Now available in digital format, this book offers a clear account of her journey and
helps us to form our own conclusions on this most difficult of questions.
Starting with ancient ideas on death and the afterlife, the book explores the
teaching of the major world religions, considers near-death, psychic and
paranormal experiences, and examines the case for reincarnation. The strengths of
the various religious claims are then tested by reference to the character of the
prophets of each tradition, and this is followed by an objective summary of the
evidence for the resurrection of Jesus. Alison, who had begun her journey as an
atheist, brings everything together by sharing her decision to place her faith in the
Christian hope – it is, she concludes, the only one which seems to stand up to
rigorous examination.
First published in 1995 and translated into Chinese in 2007, What Happens When
We Die has helped thousands of people to find a new and life-changing
confidence as they face up to the reality of death.
BOOK REVIEW:
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE DIE?
Alison Morgan
251pp.
In the Middle Ages books on dying topped the bestseller lists. Today you would
hardly be regarded as the life and soul of the party if you made small talk by
asking someone if they had 'read that new book on death that's just come out'.
Yet for people of today the question posed by the title of this book is still the
ultimate one and one we have to face just as much as did our forebears, however much we try to push it
to the back of our minds.
The value of this book lies in the fact that it is much more than a simple apologia for the Christian answer
to the Ultimate Question, for it is not the only one people have to choose from. Dr Morgan gives objective
critiques of all the views on offer. She looks at ancient ideas on death and the afterlife, and those of the
major world religions. These all have conflicting ideas about the hereafter but agree that death is not the
end. She then weighs the evidence provided by studies of 'near death experiences' by psychic and
paranormal phenomena, and examines the case for reincarnation. The strengths of the various religious
claims are then tested by reference to the character of the prophetic witnesses ofeach tradition; it is in this
area that the Judaeo-Christian tradition starts to make its superiority evident.
Dr Morgan brings everything together by sharing her personal faith in the Christian hope, and the reasons
why she holds to it in preference to any other - for it is, she says, "the only one which seems to stand up
to rigorous examination and to make sense of all the evidence."
Living as we do in a pluralist society, where different faiths rub shoulders with New Age philosophies and
die-hard rationalist atheism, it is important that Christians should be able to defend their views on such an
important issue and understand why it is to be preferred over others. This book will go a long way to
enabling them to do this. Definitely worth buying.
ALAN LINFIELD, Librarian, London Bible College
Church of England Newspaper 9th September1995
