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Religion and Parapsychology
Record Type: Review   ID: 1300

The Sacred and the Psychic: Parapsychology and Christian Theology

Heaney, John J.

 The author, a Catholic theologian, seeks to present a balanced view of the implications of parapsychology for theology—fundamental theology in particular. By the latter he refers first to the study of the experience and doctrine of the foundational Christian category, revelation, and, second, to the study of the presuppositions and assumptions, both conscious and unconscious, that are involved in the commitment to Christian revelation. In each chapter he presents the evidence for the type of paranormal ability that serves as the subject of that chapter, then the criticisms, the response to the criticisms, and the theological implications. The titles of the chapters dealing with phenomena are "Telepathy and Clairvoyance"; "Psychokinesis, Poltergeist Manifestations and Demonic Possession"; "Paranormal Healing"; "Precognition and Prophecy"; "Retrocognition"; "Out-of-the-Body Experiences"; "Recent Studies of Near Death Experiences"; "Apparitions and the Resurrection of Jesus"; "Mediums: The Unconscious or Life Beyond?"; and "Reincarnation." In addition there are three more theoretical and explicitly theological chapters. One deals with Jung's concept of the collective unconscious, coupled with the idea of a psychic universe. Another is on theological and parapsychological aspects of eschatology. The last chapter is entitled "Consciousness, Parapsychology and Theology," and it presents a holistic, transpersonal view. Throughout, Heaney singles out the moments of transcendence associated with psi phenomena and attempts to explicate their meaning for theology. He sees psychic phenomena as a kind of bridge between the secular and the sacred. Psi phenomena indicate that there are dimensions of reality that we can contact in which we are not the isolated egos we generally assume we are. Finally, he proposes that the most coherent view of the cosmos reveals that we are enfolded in a psychic universe in which we operate together with a mysterious Otherness, Absolute Mind, and Love.
Publisher Information:Ramsey, NJ: Paulist Press, 1984. 286p. Chapter notes
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