Heaven and the Afterlife

James L. Garlow is the coauthor of Cracking DaVinci's Code, with a half million copies in print. He is the senior pastor of Skyline Wesleyan Church in San Diego and a speaker at pastors' and leaders' conferences. Jim has master's degrees from Princeton Theological Seminary and Asbury Theological Seminary and a PhD in historical theology from Drew University. He speaks nationwide and has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, FOX, and NBC. His daily radio commentary, The Garlow Perspective, can be heard on nearly five hundred radio outlets. Jim and his wife are the parents of four children and live in San Diego, California.

Keith Wall, a twenty-year publishing veteran, has served as an editor for Focus on the Family, Multnomah, and David C. Cook. He currently writes full time in collaboration with several bestselling authors. He and his wife and two children live in Colorado Springs.

Religious or not, most people have contemplated what happens after death. One particularly common question: is the afterlife a fantasy concocted to give us hope that the end of earthly life is not the end of our story? Garlow (Cracking Da Vinci's Code) a pastor, and Wall, a writer and editor, are certain there is an afterlife. They draw upon scientific studies of near-death experiences, biblical scholarship and personal anecdotes to make their case. At times their project appears objective and scholarly, drawing upon the likes of Kübler-Ross and her seminal work on death and dying. But it also uses literalist interpretations of Christian scripture that, unsurprisingly, prove that anyone who does not accept Jesus had better invest in a flame-retardant suit for the afterlife. The authors' attempt to describe what heaven is actually like seems arbitrary—there is music but no sex or marriage—and based on debatable exegetical premises. The most compelling passages are those that comment on how the living deal with the death of loved ones. These sections could give hope to readers suffering from personal loss. (July) Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.