Features
- Cover Type: Paperback with 364 pages
- Published by: iUniverse, Inc. July 21, 2005
- Written in: English
- ISBN 10 Number: 0595363539
- ISBN 13 Number: 978-0595363537
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Book Dimensions:
8.8 x 6 x 1 inches
- Weighs: 1.2 pounds
Product Description
Since its birth in 1848, Spiritualism as a religion, science, and philosophy has experienced great highs and lows. At the center of this purely American-made modern-religious movement are "mediums"--the people who are able to communicate, in some way, with spirit entities that are no longer on the earth plane.
Based on three years of on-site investigation, and a plethora of data and research collected on the modern Spiritualist movement in America,
Talking to the Other Side focuses upon the ethno-religious aspects of the religion, mediumship, and the mediums themselves.
The first four chapters offer an expansive review of the history of religion in America, mediumship, and the Spiritualist movement. Chapters 5-7 comprise the research and data that were compiled and analyzed based on fieldwork analysis, a comprehensive questionnaire, personal interviews, and published literature on the topic of Spiritualism and mediumship.
According to Spiritualist mediums, "people don't die, bodies do."
Talking to the Other Side offers a contemporary look into the lives and backgrounds of the mediums who bridge this world and the Spirit world, connecting those who have passed over with those they left behind.
About The Author
Todd Jay Leonard, PhD, holds a doctorate in social science with a specialization in American religious history. He has written fourteen books and has authored numerous academic articles in the areas of history, language, culture, religion, and spirituality. He now calls Hirosaki, Japan home, where he lives, writes, and teaches.
Reader ReviewsI found this book to be a very readable and informative history of the Spiritualist Movement in USA, something of which I had previously known almost nothing about. I particularly recommend this book for those wanting to know of the history of made-in-America religions, not only Spiritualism. As well, I also recommend this book for those wanting to know more about the precepts of Spiritualism itself, an extremely unique and interesting religion, situated in science that offers an alternative to institutionalized religions which often do not allow for a personal approach to spiritual development, as Spiritualism does. Based on Dr. Leonard's Ph.D. thesis, the last few chapters answer his research questions gleaned from a questionnaire survey which was qualitatively analyzed in the voices of his participants, the Spiritualists themselves. Along with extensive appendices and various notes throughout, this book is a unique contribution to an area that has not yet been well documented. Dr. Leonard's insider view as a novice Spiritualist himself, to which he converts during the span of the survey, makes this book all the more attractive.
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