Gregory Shushan

The Confusion of Worlds

World Religions

“A welcome addition to the literature exploring the relationships between religious beliefs and extraordinary experiences. In a bold and original thesis, Schwenke argues compellingly that beliefs in postmortem physical resurrection and existence in an earthly paradise originated in cultural misinterpretations of near-death, otherworld, and spirit-encounter phenomena. The interdisciplinary and cross-cultural approach—spanning Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, and the Lakota Sioux Ghost Dance religion—will appeal to theologians, anthropologists, psychologists, and readers generally interested in the historical and comparative study of religions, the afterlife, and related experiences.”