Overview

Visions and apparitions of Jesus have been reported since the earliest days of Christianity, and it is widely known that such events are still being experienced. In this study of the phenomena, the author focuses on modern visions of Jesus, as described to him by 30 contemporary visionaries - most of them ordinary people without prior or subsequent experiences of this kind. He recounts each of the visions in detail, reviews recent biblical scholarship on the subject, and examines current literature on the psychology and neurology of visual hallucinations. He ultimately concludes that contemporary visions of Jesus represent genuine religious experiences of a mystical character and he calls for further discussion of their philosophical and theological implications.

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9780195097504

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Reviews

A much needed and fascinating study of people's visions of Jesus on the basis of case studies, examining dispassionately the various explanations on offer. --Bishop Hugh Montefiore Visions of Jesus, the author justly concludes, are significant among religious experiences, and deserve more extensive study than they have received. I strongly recommend this book both to scholars who are interested in these matters, whether Christian or not, and to ordinary educated readers. --Hugo Meynell, University of Calgary Wiebe presents each of the 30 accounts in vivid detail, examining the often dramatic changes the apparitions brought about in the lives of mostly ordinary men and women.... Both believers and skeptics will find much food for thought in this well-researched study. --Library Journal The book is stimulating and opens up for examination a topic that deserves further exploration. --Religious Studies Review

Wiebe (Philosophy/Trinity Western Univ., Canada) draws on 30 contemporary visionaries and a wide range of scholarship in an attempt to produce a philosophically coherent critique of visions of Jesus. Many people claim to have experienced these visions, so that dismissing all such reports as hoaxes or hallucinations can look like prejudice. But the question remains, what sense are we to make of what the visionaries tell us? Wiebe's answer is that visions of Jesus do not exactly prove anything about the truth of Christianity or even the existence of God, but they are symbolic of a transcendent realm that is as real as that of conventional Western science. Wiebe's approach involves issues of epistemology and philosophy of religion; for example, he uses the thought of Richard Swinburne and Alvin Platinga and looks at various theories of how mind and body interact. Wiebe is also a disciple of William James and Alistair Hardy in his attitude to religious experience. Our author offers as the empirical basis of his study 30 contemporary cases of alleged visions that he has personally investigated. These include not only dreamlike encounters but also experiences shared by groups of people and even recorded on film. Not all of the visionaries were religiously active, but in spite of Wiebe's protestations of heterogeneity, most of them seem to have been influenced by an Evangelical or Pentecostalist setting. An important part of Wiebe's thesis is his controversial belief that these visions are basically the same as, and thus shed light on, those recorded in the New Testament. It is a pity that in a multidisciplinary study of religion Wiebe largely bypasses theology and the nuanced Roman Catholic and Orthodox traditions of discerning the authenticity of visions and situating them in the larger context of religious growth and practice. (Kirkus Reviews)

Wiebe's book shows the importance of exploring contemporary religious experience. Paul Badham, Church Times

Wiebe's book shows the importance of exploring contemporary religious experience. * Paul Badham, Church Times *

Author Information

Phillip H. Wiebe is Professor of Philosophy and Assistant Dean of Arts and Religious Studies at Trinity Western University in Canada.

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