Healing and spirituality

This article appeared previously as a chapter inHealth and Faith, published by University Press of America, 1991.     

Near-death experience: A review from pastoral psychology

Published interpretations of near-death experience from the vantage of pastoral psychology are virtually nonexistent. Subjective reports from survivors and investigative contributions from other disciplines are scattered and diverse. A comparison of twenty-one near-death experience transcendence accounts with the available literature may not only offer direction for further systematic inquiry but also contribute to our pastoral understanding of life and death.He is a candidate for the S.T.D. in pastoral psychology at San Francisco Theological Seminary, San Anselmo, California, and a Fellow in the American Association of Pastoral Counselors.The author gratefully acknowledges the help of his brother, Michael B. Sabom. M.D., of the Emory University Medical School, Atlanta. Georgia, in the preparation of this article, it is to his continuing pastoral work with NDE survivors that this article is dedicated.