DOCSLIB.ORG

Understanding (1748), L.A. Selby-Bigge (Ed.) Enquiries Concerning

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Understanding (1748), L.A. Selby-Bigge (Ed.) Enquiries Concerning Notes Introduction 1. Hume, 'Of Miracles', Sect. X of An Enquiry concerning the Human Understanding (1748), L.A. Selby-Bigge (ed.) Enquiries concerning Hu­ man Understanding and concerning the Principles of Morals (Oxford: Oarendon, 1902) 3rd edn., 1975, pp. 109-31, p. 115 note. Chapter 1: THE CRISIS IN MODERN THEOLOGY 1. Later published in Kerygma und Mythos: Ein theologisches Gespriich, H. W. Bartsch (ed.) (Hamburg: Reich, 1947), 2 vols., I, pp. 15--48. The quotations which follow are given to the English translation of this work by R. H. Fuller, Kerygma and Myth: A Theological Debate, with contributions 1fy Rudolf Bultmann, Ernst Lohmeyer, Julius Schniewind, Friedrich Schumann, Helmut Thielicke and Austin Farrer (London: S.P.C.K., 1953) 2 vols., I, pp. 1-44. These, together with wider references, will be given in the text under the prefix 'KM'. 2. Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison, translated from Widerstand und Ergebung: Briefe und Aufzeichnungen aus der Haft by R. H. Fuller, P. Clarke and others (London: SCM, 1953); enlarged edition, ed. E. Bethge (London: SCM, 1971) p. 285. The German edition, as may be noted, appeared in 1970. 3. Robinson (London: SCM, 1963). Further references to this work will be given in the text under the prefix 'HG'. 4. Robinson, 'The Debate Continues', D. L. Edwards (ed.), The Honest to God Debate: Some reactions to the book 'Honest to God' with a new chapter 1fy its author John A. T. Robinson (London: SCM, 1963) pp. 232-75, p. 262. Further references to this work will be given in the text under the prefix 'HGD'. 5. Paul Tillich, The Shaking of the Foundations (New York: Scribner, 1948) p. 57. 6. The logical difficulties raised here will be the subject of later remark. See chap. 12 of this volume. 7. Anonymous, The Times (London, 4 April 1963). The comment, of course, was originally made of Auguste Comte. 8. Bultmann, Jesus Christ and Mythology, Yale and Vanderbilt Lectures, 1951 (New York: Scribner, 1958) pp. 16, 37. Chapter 2: THE IDEA OF THE MIRACULOUS 1. Jaspers, Bultmannl}aspers, Myth and Christianity: An Inquiry into the Possibility of Religion Without Myth (New York: Noonday, 1958) pp.3-4. 2. Cf. the well-known contribution of H. and H. A. Frankfort to this 211 topic in the collection of essays. H. and H. A. Frankfort (eds), The Intellectual Adventure of Ancient Man (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1946); reprinted under the title Before Philosophy (London: Pelican, 1949). 3. Bultmann, Jesus Christ and Mythology, pp. 37-8. 4. Hume, op. cit., p. 115 note. Further references to this work will be given in the text under the prefix 'HU'. 5. Lecky, History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of Rationalism in Europe (London: Longmans, Green, 1865); reprinted (New York: Braziller, 1955) p. 101 (my italics). Cf. chap. 6 of this volume for a qualifying note on the intellectual milieu of the period which saw the emergence of this famous treatise. 6. Jaynes, The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1976), fly-leaf summary. 7. Solzhenitsyn, The Cancer Ward trans. Rachel Frank (New York: Dial, 1968) p. 164. 8. Paul Dietl, 'On Miracles', American Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. 5, No. 2 (April1968) pp. 130-4, p. 132. 9. Broad, 'Hume's Theory of the Credibility of Miracles', Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society (New Series) XVII (191fr17) pp. 77-94; re­ printed in Human Understanding: Studies in the Philosophy of David Hume, A. Sesonske and N. Fleming (eds) (Belmont: Wadsworth, 1965) pp. 8fr98, p. 86. 10. Odegard, 'Miracles and Good Evidence', Religious Studies, Vol. 18 (1982) pp. 37-46, p. 38. 11. The archetypal statement of this claim, in its eighteenth century form, is given by William Paley in his A View of the Evidences of Christianity (1794) and Natural Theology (1802). 12. Lewis, Miracles (London/New York: Macmillan, 1947) p. 124. 13. Broad, op. cit., p. 94. 14. Penelhem, Hume (London: Macmillan, 1975) p. 178. Chapter 3: MIRACLES AND NATURAL NECESSITY 1. Huxley, Science and Christian Tradition: Essays (London: Macmillan, 1894) p. 133. 2. Lewis, op. cit., p. 124. 3. Flew, God and Philosophy (London: Hutchinson, 1966) p. 149. A theological formulation of, what might be taken as, the same argument is given by Tillich: 'Miracles cannot be interpreted in terms of a supernatural interference in natural processes. If such an interpretation were true, the manifestation of the ground of being would destroy the structure of being; God would be split within himself, as religious dualism has asserted.' Systematic Theology (London: Nisbet, 1964) 3 vols., I, p. 129. 4. Huxley, op. cit., p. 133. 5. McKinnon, American Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. 4, No.4 (1967) pp. 308-14. Notes to pp. 29-41 213 6. Cf. R. F. Holland, 'The Miraculous', American Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. 2, No.1 (1965) pp. 43-51, p. 46. 7. Robinson, 'Miracles', Ratio, Vol. ix, No. 2 (1967) pp. 155--66, p. 159. The position is one that is endorsed by Malcolm Diamond, 'Mira­ cles', Religious Studies Vol. 9 (1973) pp. 307-24. 8. Cf. in this connexion the words of John Maynard (later, Lord) Keynes after reading through the masses of Newton's private papers following their being opened to public scrutiny in 1936: 'Newton was not the first of the age of reason. He was the last of the magicians. He looked on the whole universe and all that there is in it as a riddle, as a secret which could be read by applying pure thought to certain evidence, certain mystic clues which God had laid about the world to allow a sort of philosopher's treasure hunt to the esoteric brotherhood. He believed that these clues were to be found partly in the evidence of the heavens and in the constitution of elements (and that is what gives the false suggestion of his being an experimental natural philosopher), but also partly in certain papers and traditions handed down by the brethren in an unbroken chain back to the original cryptic revelation in Babylonia. He regarded the universe as a cryptogram set by the Almighty.' Quoted by B. J. T. Dobbs, The Foundations of Newton's Alchemy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975) pp. 13-14. Cf. chap. 11 in this volume. 9. Holland, op. cit., p. 48. Similar views are expressed by Richard Swinburne, The Concept of a Miracle (London: Macmillan, 1970) p. 27; and by Margaret Boden 'Miracles and Scientific Explanation', Ratio, Vol. xi, No. 2 (1969) pp. 137-44, p. 140. 10. Smart, 'Miracles and David Hume', Philosophers and Religious Truth (London: SCM, 1964) pp. 26-56, pp. 39-41. 11. Swinburne, op. cit., p. 26. 12. Nowell-Smith, 'Miracles', New Essays in Philosophical Theology, ed. A. Flew and A. Mcintyre (London: SCM, 1955) pp. 243-53. The essay was originally published in the Hibbert Journal, Vol. xlviii (1950) pp. 3~. 13. Swinburne, op. cit., p. 53. Chapter 4: MIRACLES AND MIND 1. Odegard, op. cit., p. 41. 2. Lewis, op. cit., p. 58. 3. Broad, op. cit., p. 96. 4. Smart, op. cit., pp. 47-8. 5. Lewis, op. cit., p. 59. 6. Lewis, ibid., pp. 56-7. 7. Broad, op. cit., p. 90. 8. Dietl, op. cit., p. 132. 9. Dietl, ibid., p. 132. 10. Boden, op. cit., p. 140. 11. Broad, 'The Relevance of Psychical Research to Philosophy', Reli­ gion, Philosophy and Psychical Research: Selected Essays (London: Rout- 214 Notes to pp. 43-57 ledge, Kegan Paul, 1953) pp. 7-26. Cf. also, Broad, Lectures on Psychical Research, incorporating the Perrott Lectures given at Cambridge University in 1959 and 1960 (London: Routledge, Kegan Paul, 1962) pp. 3-4. 12. Broad, 'Hume's Theory of the Credibility of Miracles', op. cit., p. 96. 13. Jones, Sigmund Freud: Life and Work (London: Hogarth, 1953) 2 vols., I, p. 45. Chapter 5: MIRACLES AS A MODE OF THE SUPER-NORMAL 1. Bultmann, Jesus Christ and Mythology, p. 15. 2. Broad, 'Hume's Theory of the Credibility of Miracles', op. cit., p. 96. 3. Schniewind, 'A Reply to Bultmann' (1943}, Kerygma and Myth, I, pp. 45-101, p. 51 (my interpolations). 4. Thielicke, 'The Restatement of New Testament Mythology', Kerygma and Myth, I, pp. 13&-74, pp. 174, 173. 5. Landrum, 'What a Miracle Really Is', Religious Studies Vol. 12 (1976}, pp. 49-57, pp. 52-3. 6. F. L. Cross (ed.) (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1957) p. 920. 7. Cf. Aquinas, Summa Theologica, I, 110, 4. 8. Lecky, op. cit., pp. xix-xx. 9. Swinburne, op. cit., pp. &-9 (my italics). 10. Schopenhauer, 'Versuch iiber das Geistersehn und was damit zusammenhangt', Parerga und Paralipomena (1851), Siimtliche Werke (Wiesbaden: Brokhaus, 1960) V, pp. 239-329: trans. E. F. J. Payne, 'Essay on Spirit Seeing and everything connected therewith' Parerga and Paralipomena (Oxford: Clarendon, 1974) 2 vols., I, pp. 227-309, p. 266. Chapter 6: SUPER-NORMALITY AS A MODE OF THE REAL 1. Lecky, op. cit., pp. 27, 161, 162. 2. Cf., in this connexion, three works of especial relevance which, together, contain an extensive bibliography relating to the matters in hand- Henri F. Ellenberger, The Discovery of the Unconscious: The History and Evolution of Dynamic Psychiatry (New York: Basic Books, 1970); Alan Gauld, The Founders of Psychical Research (London: Routledge, Kegan Paul, 1968); and R. Lawrence Moore, In Search of White Crows: Spiritualism, Parapsychology and American Culture (New York: Oxford University Press, 1977). 3. Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research ijuly, 1882}, I (1883), pp. 3-4 (my italics). Proceedings of the Society have been issued since the foregoing date and a Journal from February 1884.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • PSYPIONEER JOURNAL Volume 7, No 11: November 2011
    PSYPIONEERF JOURNAL Founded by Leslie Price Edited by Archived by Paul J. Gaunt Garth Willey EST 2004 VolumeAmalgamation 7, No 11: of NovemberSocieties 2011 Discontinued; a Forgotten Spiritualist Tragedy – Leslie Price 338 Includes: A New Attack by Father Thurston – Psychic News Spiritualism and Suicide - The Tablet All of them are Evil Spirits! – Psychic News The Physical Phenomena of the Past, An Historical Survey – Leslie Curnow 349 Mrs. Mary Marshall – Paul J. Gaunt 355 Anti-Spiritualist Studies – Leslie Price 363 The Beginnings of Full Form Materialisations in England Catherine (Kate) Elizabeth Wood 1854-1884 – continued 366 Some books we have reviewed 374 How to obtain this Journal by email 375 ============================ 337 DISCONTINUED; A FORGOTTEN SPIRITUALIST TRAGEDY Serious students of the pioneers know that the on-line catalogues of major libraries are a treasure trove of information, often revealing unknown material. Sometimes, however, there is a dramatic story behind the catalogue card. So it is with an item in the subsidiary catalogue of British Library newspapers. One of them Spiritual Truth is marked “discontinued”. Behind this word “discontinued” is a tragedy, into which the American medium Arthur Ford, the editor of the then recently launched (1932) Psychic News Maurice Barbanell, and the Jesuit researcher Herbert Thurston were to be drawn. Spiritual Truth was edited by Percival Beddow, a prominent figure in Christian Spiritualism. He was, for example, one of the first to attend a Zodiac circle, and was addressed by Zodiac.1 Beddow also published a script from Philip the Evangelist, on which Sir Arthur Conan Doyle commented in his History of Spiritualism: “Two long scripts have recently appeared which have been written by the hand of the semi- conscious medium, Miss Cummins, the writing coming through at the extraordinary pace of 2,000 words per hour.
    [Show full text]
  • The Science of Mediumship and the Evidence of Survival
    Rollins College Rollins Scholarship Online Master of Liberal Studies Theses 2009 The cS ience of Mediumship and the Evidence of Survival Benjamin R. Cox III [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.rollins.edu/mls Recommended Citation Cox, Benjamin R. III, "The cS ience of Mediumship and the Evidence of Survival" (2009). Master of Liberal Studies Theses. 31. http://scholarship.rollins.edu/mls/31 This Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by Rollins Scholarship Online. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master of Liberal Studies Theses by an authorized administrator of Rollins Scholarship Online. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Science of Mediumship and the Evidence of Survival A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Liberal Studies by Benjamin R. Cox, III April, 2009 Mentor: Dr. J. Thomas Cook Rollins College Hamilton Holt School Master of Liberal Studies Winter Park, Florida This project is dedicated to Nathan Jablonski and Richard S. Smith Table of Contents Introduction ............................................................................................... 1 The Science of Mediumship.................................................................... 11 The Case of Leonora E. Piper ................................................................ 33 The Case of Eusapia Palladino............................................................... 45 My Personal Experience as a Seance Medium Specializing
    [Show full text]
  • Super-Psi and the Survivalist Interpretation of Mediumship
    Journal of Scientifi c Exploration, Vol. 23, No. 2, pp. 167–193, 2009 0892-3310/09 ESSAY Super-Psi and the Survivalist Interpretation of Mediumship MICHAEL SUDDUTH Department of Philosophy San Francisco State University San Francisco, CA e-mail: [email protected] Abstract—According to the survivalist interpretation of mediumship, the existence of discarnate persons provides the best explanation for the data associ- ated with physical and mental mediumship. Others—advocates of what is often called the “super-psi hypothesis”—maintain that the data of mediumship may be at least equally explained in terms of living agent psi (ESP and psychokinesis). Many defenders of the survivalist interpretation of mediumship attempt to defl ate the alleged explanatory virtues of the super-psi hypothesis by arguing that the hypothesis is unfalsifi able and lacks independent evidential support. My central contention in this paper is that these frequently encountered survivalist criticisms of the super-psi hypothesis are ultimately self-defeating to the case for survival from mediumship. To show this I fi rst argue in some detail that the survivalist interpretation of mediumship is committed to a kind or degree of psi that is indistinguishable from what is required by the super-psi hypothesis. From this vantage point it can be shown that any attempt to impugn the explanatory virtues of the super-psi hypothesis on account of the kind or degree of psi it requires undercuts the argument for survival itself. Keywords: super-psi—survival—mediumship—telepathy—clairvoyance— postmortem Introduction Data collected from physical and mental mediumship constitute an important strand of ostensible evidence for postmortem survival.
    [Show full text]
  • Spirit and Other Writings (By Author from More Prolific Authors)
    Home | Library | E‐Zines | Books | Glossary | Links | FAQ Spirit and Other Writings (by author from more prolific authors) | Johanne Agerskov | Akhenaton | Frank Alper | Rosemary Altea (Gray Eagle) | Elwood Babbitt | Alice Bailey (Djwhal Khul) | Marti Barham | Elsa Barker | Bartholomew (via Mary Moore) | Graham Bernard | Silver Birch | Frances Bird | Anthony Borgia | Sylvia Browne | June Burke | Eileen Caddy | Dolores Cannon | Ken Carey | Mary Carreiro | Hilda Charlton | Edgar Cayce | Barbara Hand Clow | Grace and Ivan Cooke (White Eagle) | Denise Cooney | A Course in Miracles (via Helen Schucman and others) | Benjamin Creme (Maitreya) | Geraldine Cummins | Dolfyn | Emmanuel (via Pat Rodegast, et. al.) | Virginia Essene | Paul Ferrini | Arthur Findlay | Jean K. Foster | Louis Gittner | Brian Grattan | Helen Greaves | David Hess | Hilarion (via Maurice Cooke) | Barbara Marx Hubbard | I Am | Allan Kardec (Leon Rivail) | Ronald G. Kaufmann | L Kelway­Bamber | Eric Klein | Kryon (via Lee Carroll) | Dale Landry | Lazaris (via Jack Pursel ) | David K Johnson and Robert Leichtman | Janet McClure (Vywamus) | Dorothy. MacLean | A. Gates McKibbin | George McMullen | James Merrill | Michael Teachings | Mother Mary (via Annie Kirkwood and others) | MSI | Karl Nowotny | George Vale Owen | James E Padgett | Pearl | Eva Pierrakos | Elizabeth Clare and Mark Prophet | Ramala | Andrew Ramer | Ramtha (via J.Z. Knight) | Dorothy Roeder | Mona Rolfe | Sanaya Roman | Helena Roerich | Kevin Ryerson and Shirley Maclaine | Saint Germain (via Guy Ballard, et.
    [Show full text]
  • Twenty-First Century American Ghost Hunting: a Late Modern Enchantment
    Twenty-First Century American Ghost Hunting: A Late Modern Enchantment Daniel S. Wise New Haven, CT Bachelor oF Arts, Florida State University, 2010 Master oF Arts, Florida State University, 2012 A Dissertation presented to the Graduate Faculty oF the University oF Virginia in Candidacy For the Degree oF Doctor oF Philosophy Department oF Religious Studies University oF Virginia November, 2020 Committee Members: Erik Braun Jack Hamilton Matthew S. Hedstrom Heather A. Warren Contents Acknowledgments 3 Chapter 1 Introduction 5 Chapter 2 From Spiritualism to Ghost Hunting 27 Chapter 3 Ghost Hunting and Scientism 64 Chapter 4 Ghost Hunters and Demonic Enchantment 96 Chapter 5 Ghost Hunters and Media 123 Chapter 6 Ghost Hunting and Spirituality 156 Chapter 7 Conclusion 188 Bibliography 196 Acknowledgments The journey toward competing this dissertation was longer than I had planned and sometimes bumpy. In the end, I Feel like I have a lot to be thankFul For. I received graduate student Funding From the University oF Virginia along with a travel grant that allowed me to attend a ghost hunt and a paranormal convention out oF state. The Skinner Scholarship administered by St. Paul’s Memorial Church in Charlottesville also supported me For many years. I would like to thank the members oF my committee For their support and For taking the time to comb through this dissertation. Thank you Heather Warren, Erik Braun, and Jack Hamilton. I especially want to thank my advisor Matthew Hedstrom. He accepted me on board even though I took the unconventional path oF being admitted to UVA to study Judaism and Christianity in antiquity.
    [Show full text]
  • News and Comment
    News and Comment An Unbeliever Among D The Faithful his past May, Cambridge Univer- jointly by the president of the Society sity appointed its first research for Psychical Research (Archie E. Roy) Tfellow in parapsychology. Nor- and three past presidents 0ohn Beloff, mally, you might not expect this to Arthur J. Ellison, and Alan Gauld). be a high-profile news item. But the "Dr. Humphrey," they wrote, post went to a skeptic, Nicholas Humphrey, and this turned an unus- ual academic appointment into a media event in Britain. The Times of London wasted no time in interviewing Humphrey, who was refreshingly forthright in his replies. "After a hundred years of experiments into the paranormal," he said, "they have come up with nothing convincing. I want to show not only that these things don't happen, but that they are logically impossible, that the paranormal is all in the mind." Nor did he give any ground to the spiritually minded. "Roman Catholi- cism without the paranormal would be nothing; it needs its miracles. But then who needs Catholicism? Praying has no paranormal benefits—statisti- cally, it is not going to help." "The most important work to be done in this area," he said, "is to expose the fallacies. This is not a game. A lot of people are putting around mislead- ing ideas, and others are being conned financially and intellectually." Almost immediately, ruffled feath- ers began afluttering in the dovecotes of academe. A letter to the Times was signed Inquirer Winter 1993 115 "appears to be lumping together all the concerned with research into the silliest nonsense and foolish supersti- physical sciences, and the dons there tions he (and we) dislike and calling were imperfectly sensible of the honor it parapsychology.
    [Show full text]
  • Essay Review of the Survival Hypothesis
    Journal of Scientifi c Exploration, Vol. 29, No. 2, pp. 305–330, 2015 0892-3310/15 ESSAY Essay Review of The Survival Hypothesis ALAN GAULD The Survival Hypothesis: Essays on Mediumship edited by Adam J. Rock. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2013. viii+310 pp. $49.95 (paperback). ISBN 978-0-7864-7220-8. In his Introduction, the Editor of this book, Adam J. Rock, manages to present us in the space of twelve pages—no mean feat—with some key definitions, a “necessarily brief and incomplete history of mediumship,” an introduction to the ‘source of psi’ problem with respect to mediumship, an outline of the structure and contents of the present volume, and his concluding wish that survival-related topics, such as mediumship will receive more attention than hitherto within mainstream parapsychology. Part I of the book is entitled Explanation and Belief, and opens with two closely linked essays by Stephen E. Braude on The Possibility of Mediumship: Philosophical Considerations, and by Michael Sudduth on Is Postmortem Survival the Best Explanation of the Data of Mediumship? Stephen Braude is one of a rather limited number of writers in this field whose clarity and brio one can enjoy regardless of whether or not one agrees with his opinions. In the present article he tackles, with special reference to mediumship, the question of whether there can be a scientific or other rational basis for belief in the survival of bodily death. He notes at the outset that this question is hedged about with a variety of troublesome philosophical issues in which the unwary may become ensnared.
    [Show full text]
  • Glossary of Spiritualist Terms and Techniques
    A PPENDIX A Glossary of Spiritualist Terms and Techniques automatic writing. A Spirit uses the medium’s hand to write replies to any number of questions posed; also practiced by amateurs as a way of strengthening their spiritual powers. As an added feature, a magic pencil sometimes floats. In such instances, the Spirits are asking the medium to begin writing. How it is done: The pencil hangs on thin metal or glass wires. clairgustance or clairlience. A taste or smell associated with the Spirit. For example, if you are trying to contact your mother, who was fond of gardening, a waft of rose water might be introduced. How it is done: aromatherapy. dermography, also known as skin writing. The Spirits literally write words or pictures on the medium’s flesh. How it is done: Invisible ink, likely lemon juice, is used. When held up to a candle, the ink grows increasingly visible. ectoplasm. A pale, filmy materialization of the soul, produced by the medium when in a trance state. Likely invented by Leah Fox (circa 1860). The last manifestation of ectoplasm seems to have taken place in 1939. Cambridge University has a sample; it looks and feels like cheesecloth or chiffon. Female mediums sometimes stuffed ectoplasm in their vaginas, necessitating strip- searches. See also soul and Spirit’s progress. lampadomancy. Flame reading. The messages might be conveyed by changes in flame intensity, color, or direction. How it is done: Chemicals can be added to a segment of the candle to make the flame flicker or change color. On the direction of the flame: a small hole in the table may allow 164 Glossary of Spiritualist Terms and Techniques for a flue to affect air- current.
    [Show full text]
  • Jse 29 1 Reviewbraude.Pdf (145.5Kb)
    Reprinted from “Australian Poltergeist: The Stone-Throwing Spook of Humpty Doo and Many Other Cases”, Journal of Scientific Exploration, vol. [29], no. [1], pp. [158-160], published by the Society for Scientific Exploration, http://www.scientificexploration.org. Access to this work was provided by the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) ScholarWorks@UMBC digital repository on the Maryland Shared Open Access (MD-SOAR) platform. Please provide feedback Please support the ScholarWorks@UMBC repository by emailing [email protected] and telling us what having access to this work means to you and why it’s important to you. Thank you. Journal of Scientifi c Exploration, Vol. 29, No. 1, pp. 158–160, 2015 0892-3310/15 BOOK REVIEW Australian Poltergeist: The Stone-Throwing Spook of Humpty Doo and Many Other Cases by Tony Healy and Paul Cropper. Strange Nation, 2014. 300 pp. ISBN 978-1-921134-34-0 (print), 978-1-921134- 35-7 (digital). No doubt this breezily written and informative volume will fill a gaping lacuna in most JSE readers’ knowledge of evidence for psychokinesis generally and poltergeist phenomena in particular. It certainly did for me. Healy and Cropper survey 52 different Australian cases, spanning the years 1845–2002. The first eleven chapters cover the authors’ 11 strongest cases in considerable detail. Chapter 12 describes the remaining 41 cases more briefly, and catalogues all 52 cases in chronological order. Chapter 13 purports to wrap things up, but it’s followed by three appendices introducing additional cases outside Australia and brief discussions of similar or at least potentially relevant physical mysteries—for example, some Asian fire poltergeist cases, ball lightning, UFOs, and reported rains of fishes.
    [Show full text]
  • Where There Is Life There Is Spirit
    PAGE 2 PSYCHIC NEWS, AUGUST 21,1976 Where there is life there is spirit whether animal, vegetable, there is life there is spirit.” WRITING to me about life must be thekey of all Wolverhamp- mineral, or even the etherie Spirit after death, a movement, motion, or life, YOUR comments, criticisms or complaints ton reader asked if we could realms. that is Brother process, operating while matter, unless ener- . “'M are welcome. Please see your name walk, talk, etc, in the next Such a posfcoop The the universe, can gised, does not move and will legible, in block letters, if not typed. world, were we “just a throughout letters. or nor also decay. So matter, of itself Editor reserves the right to shorten light floating in space”? Yes, be neither automatic We letters cannot be or fortuitous. The underlying and in its own degree, serves regret answered those are his words. Perhaps spirit acknowledged unless a SAE is enclosed. principle is the same in a no useful purpose until they indicate some of the yet appears. And we are not con- diversity of forms, each could not have ignorance which exists responds to an aware of spirit till matter Wake up, Britain! happen and cerning spirit life. initial happened, but know. impulse. moves. a week goes by we It is, of impossible HARDLY we build as a course, acorn always produces In our present environ- praise for George The structures actually to what spirit The without that knowledge may be, define oak, seed of wheat its ment we cannot see, feel, or Chapman and his healing guide result of is.
    [Show full text]
  • Journal of Scientific Exploration, Volume 22, Number 1, 2008
    JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC EXPLORATION A Publication of the Society for Scienti¢c Exploration Volume 22, Number 1 2008 Page Editorial 1 Editorial Peter A. Sturrock 5 Theme and Variations: The Life and Work of Ian Stevenson Emily Williams Kelly Carlos S. Alvarado Essays 11 Ian Stevenson: Recollections Kerr L. White 18 Reflections on the Life and Work of Ian Stevenson Alan Gauld 36 Ian Stevenson and Cases of the Reincarnation Type Jim B. Tucker 44 Ian Stevenson and the Modern Study of Spontaneous ESP Carlos S. Alvarado Experiences Nancy L. Zingrone 54 Ian Stevenson’s Contributions to Near-Death Studies Bruce Greyson 64 Ian Stevenson’s Contributions to the Study of Mediumship Erlendur Haraldsson 73 Where Science and Religion Intersect: The Work of Ian Edward F. Kelly Stevenson Emily Williams Kelly In Remembrance 81 The Gentle American Doctor Majd Muakkasah Abu-Izzeddin 83 Professor Ian Stevenson – Some Personal Reminiscences Mary Rose Barrington 85 Ian Stevenson: A Recollection and Tribute Stephen E. Braude 87 Ian Stevenson and His Impact on Foreign Shores Bernard Carr 93 Ian Stevenson: Gentleman and Scholar Lisette Coly 95 The Quest for Acceptance Stuart J. Edelstein 100 Ian Stevenson: Founder of the Scientific Investigation of Doris Kuhlmann- Human Reincarnation Wilsdorf 102 Remembering My Teacher L. David Leiter 104 Comments on Ian Stevenson, M.D., Director of the Division of Antonia Mills Personality Studies and Pioneer of Reincarnation Research 107 Ian Stevenson: Reminiscences and Observations John Palmer 110 Dr. Ian Stevenson: A Multifaceted Personality Satwant K. Pasricha 115 A Good Question Tom Shroder 117 The Fight for the Truth John Smythies 120 Ian Stevenson: A Man from Whom We Should Learn Rex Stanford 125 Ian Stevenson and the Society for Scientific Exploration Peter A.
    [Show full text]
  • Science and the Afterlife Experience: Evidence for the Immortality of Consciousness by Chris Carter
    Journal of Scientifi c Exploration, Vol. 28, No. 1, pp. 153–159, 2014 0892-3310/14 BOOK REVIEW Science and the Afterlife Experience: Evidence for the Immortality of Consciousness by Chris Carter. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions, 2012. xiv + 369 pp. $18.95. ISBN 978-1594774522. Science and the Afterlife Experience is the concluding volume of a trilogy that began with Parapsychology and the Skeptics (Carter 2007; reissued as Science and Psychic Phenomena, Carter 2012) and continued with Science and the Near-Death Experience (Carter 2010). These books provide handy introductions to parapsychology, psychical research, and allied concerns (such as the near-death experience) for a new generation of readers. They may best be described as quasi-scholarly, aimed primarily at a general (non-academic) audience, although they include notes, reference lists, and indexes. Carter, who holds an M.A. from the University of Oxford, England, identifies himself as a philosopher and here and there addresses philosophical concerns, such as the implications of “paranormal” phenomena for concepts of personal identity. One of the hallmarks of the series is the attention given to materialistic skeptical positions, extended in the volume under review to include super-ESP. This new installment consists of 19 chapters arranged in four parts, Reincarnation, Apparitions, Messages from the Dead, and Conclusions, preceded by a Foreword by philosopher Robert Almeder, an Introduction by Carter, and a chapter entitled “Psychic Phenomena and the Near-Death Experience: Background” which summarizes the preceding volumes in the series. Carter does a good job of surveying the classic survival literature and presents a strong case for the persistence of the human personality after death, but this is a book primarily for beginners.
    [Show full text]