Life After Death: The Evidence

Dinesh D’Souza’s new book Life After Death: The Evidence is out. Sean McDowell reviews the book in a recent post. Here are the first two paragraphs of his review:

Is death the end, or is there something more? Does life continue after the grave? According to Dinesh D’Souza, in his new book Life After Death: The Evidence (Regnery Press, 2009) this is the ultimate question that any of us will face. “Death is the great wrecking ball that destroys everything, “ says D’Souza, “Everything that we have done, everything we are doing now, and all our plans for the future are completely and irrevocably destroyed when we die” (3).

Nevertheless, some people still find this question uninteresting and unimportant. D’Souza finds this attitude “utterly incomprehensible.” After all, if you found out that you had six months to live, undoubtedly you would make some big changes in the way you live now. According to D’Souza, ignoring the question of mortality is “the product of deep denial” (5).

Christianity Today has an article on it as well.

I enjoy D’Souza’s writing. I first came across him through his book on government Letters to a Young Conservative and his biography Ronald Reagan: How an Ordinary Man Became an Extraordinary Leader. He has also written What’s So Great about Christianity, among others. I haven’t read this one yet, but I’m looking forward to it.

I would also recommend checking out JP Moreland and Gary Habermas’s Immortality: The Other Side of Death. Those who aren’t convinced will find a really strong case. But you don’t have to be skeptical to find it useful. I found that book to be incredibly helpful on two fronts: (1) the excellent defense of substance dualism that it makes (which I summarized here) and (2) Habermas’ chapter demonstrating that the resurrection of Christ can be demonstrated historically even if we limit ourselves to 12 historical facts accepted by critical scholars.

No related posts.

January 14, 2010 | Filed Under Theology | 2 Comments 

Comments

2 Responses to “Life After Death: The Evidence”

  1. Michael Duenes on January 14th, 2010 2:02 pm

    Thanks for the tip. I enjoyed D’Souza’s “What’s So Great About Christianity.” I read Joseph Bottum’s review of this latest work in NR.

  2. Brian Current on January 14th, 2010 8:03 pm

    “(2) Habermas’ chapter demonstrating that the resurrection…”

    Scott Klusendorf posted Habermas’ “Minimal Facts” regarding Jesus’ resurrection somewhere, and I saved it. He said:

    “Simply put, the minimal facts generally accepted by a majority of both liberal and conservative scholars include:

    1) Jesus died due to crucifixion.

    2) Jesus was buried.

    3) The disciples despaired after the crucifixion.

    4) Jesus’ tomb was found empty.

    5) The disciples had real experiences that convinced them of a risen Jesus.

    6) As a result of these real experiences, the disciples were completely transformed, to the point of being willing to die for their belief.

    7) The disciples proclaimed the resurrection of Jesus early, in the very city where he was crucified.

    8) The early gospel message centered on the death and resurrection of Jesus.

    9) Paul and James—initially skeptics—become Christians based on what they thought were real experiences of the resurrected Jesus.

    Given the majority of scholars accept these minimal facts (though a small minority disputes #4), what’s the best explanation for them? Habermas concludes the resurrection best explains these minimal facts.”

Leave a Reply