This book presents the Buddhist approach to facing the inevitable facts of growing older, getting sick, and dying. These tough realities are not given much attention by many people until midlife, when they become harder to avoid. Using a Buddhist text known as the Five Subjects for Frequent Recollection, Larry Rosenberg shows how intimacy with the realities of aging can actually be used as a means to liberation. When we become intimate with these inevitable aspects of life, he writes, we also become intimate with ourselves, with others, with the world—indeed with all things.

Life is short, and it can be sweet. Contemplating death is looking into a mirror that allows us to see these simple facts clearly, as if for the first time. We have every reason to believe that we have but one life to live—and no good reasons to believe otherwise—and death marks the termination of each life. Examining this reality opens doors to understanding ourselves, each other, connection, love, and life itself in an entirely new way. Life in Light of Death offers a short exploration of the sweetness and opportunity available to those who understand and embrace this fact. By looking at life as reflected by death, we can see what really matters and how best to live.

Begun in 1994, The Atlanta Study is the first comprehensive investigation of its kind into near-death experiences (NDEs). The study's name hardly captures what lies behind it: life-and-death dramas played out in operating rooms and hospital beds--and simultaneous events unseen by medical personnel but reported with astonishing clarity and conviction by nearly 50 individuals who returned from death's door. Now the founder of The Atlanta Study, Dr. Michael Sabom reveals their impact on the people who have experienced them. From both medical and personal perspectives, he shares the electrifying stories of men and women from all walks of life and religious persuasions. He explores the clinical effect of the NDE on survival and healing and discloses surprising findings. He questions some common conclusions about NDEs. And he scrutinizes near-death experiences in the light of what the Bible has to say about death and dying, the realities of light and darkness, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Dr. Lerma has devoted his career to compiling anecdotal and scientific research on pre-death hallucinations from countless terminally ill patients. This groundbreaking book shares 16 inspirational stories of children and adults confronting their deaths through the comforting visions of divine beings.

My first experience with "death" happened on the night of July 2, 1984. Since then, books, movies, and television documentaries have popularized the term "near-death experience" to describe an event that has been experienced by millions of people who have been at death's door. But back in 1984 I was alone with my experience. I couldn't share it with anyone. From the book: "Coming back from death is a powerful and life-changing experience. Before I came back from death, I was told that I was coming back with a mission in life. My mission was not clearly defined for me at first, but I now find that each and every day it is being defined for me more clearly. The experience has set me upon a path of self-discovery and spiritual enlightenment that continues to provide me with glimpses into the afterlife--glimpses that I would now like to share with you. Prior to finding myself at death's door, I was not by nature inclined to share anything with anybody, but now I believe it is important that I share my experiences with you.

We're all going to die. Yet in our medically advanced, technological age, many of us see death as a distant reality--something that happens only at the end of a long life or to other people. In The End of the Christian Life, Todd Billings urges Christians to resist that view. Instead, he calls us to embrace our mortality in our daily life and faith. This is the journey of genuine discipleship, Billings says: following the crucified and resurrected Lord in a world of distraction and false hopes. Drawing on his experience as a professor and father living with incurable cancer, Billings offers a personal yet deeply theological account of the gospel's expansive hope for small, mortal creatures. Artfully weaving rich theology with powerful narrative, Billings writes for church leaders and laypeople alike. Whether we are young or old, reeling from loss or clinging to our own prosperity, this book challenges us to walk a strange but wondrous path: in the midst of joy and lament, to receive mortal limits as a gift, an opportunity to give ourselves over to the Lord of life.

Through advances in medical technology a vast number of people have literally been brought back to life from the brink of death. In recent years published accounts of such Near-Death-Experiences (NDEs) have fascinated readers worldwide. Now Light After Death opens an exciting new chapter in the field on NDE research by presenting a comprehensive affirmation of the NDE by an established world religion. Although less than 150 years old, the Baha` I Faith is already the second most widespread religion after Christianity. Its teachings of world unity offer a ray of hope to a planet plagued with religious and ethnic division, and economic and environmental injustice.