Is death the final event in human life, or does another existence follow? What are the signs and possible proofs of such continuity? Such questions have sparked speculation in philosophy, religion, art, and science throughout human history and remain a familiar concern for even the most casual observer of the human condition. In his provocative new book, Fred Frohock explores the possibility that our existence is neither defined by nor limited to the purely physical-nor is it terminated at death. Fearlessly pursuing such a sensitive subject, Frohock suggests that death's domain may not be quite the "undiscovered country" lamented by Hamlet. He wades boldly into the debates between hardcore materialists and devout spiritualists; provides glimpses of recent findings in brain research, the so-called mind-body problem, and consciousness studies; and in general offers an idiosyncratic introduction to some of the most provocative and least understood aspects of what we call "conscious" life. In the process, he provides fresh insights into the narratives, claims, and conundrums associated with life after death, near-death and out-of-body experiences, reincarnation, and a host of psychic phenomena that continue to puzzle the experts. Demonstrating a keen grasp of subjects ranging from neurochemistry to popular culture, Frohock is a sure-footed tour guide through a richly diverse field of research. He considers what past life regression therapy suggests about reincarnation, assessing the credibility of pioneering research by Brian Weiss and Ian Stevenson. He introduces readers to the work of the University of Virginia's Near Death Experience Project, with reports stretching back 35 years, and the Human Consciousness Project's study of 1,500 survivors of cardiac arrest. And he contemplates whether people in permanent vegetative states, like Terri Schiavo and Sunny von Blow, are alive or not-and what these transitional states tell us about death. Leavened with humor and a Renaissance-style intellect that draws in Tolstoy and Hemingway along with films like Solaris and Blade Runner, Frohock's deep meditations are deftly interposed with brief fictional interludes that humanize his book's more abstract dimensions while exploring claims about the supernatural. Approaching the world's most baffling subjects with a critical eye, an open mind, and an agnostic's heart, Beyond looks beyond the last threshold and points the way toward a better understanding of human existence.
Paul Lorca, an American professor of cultural anthropology, is living in London during a sabbatical. One evening, while walking through crowded Leicester Square, he and his thirteen-year-old daughter, Sandra, lose each other. After a frantic search, he finds her. But during the course of the next several weeks, he comes to believe that it is not his daughter he has found, but someone or something else. What if it were possible to clone a beloved deceased family member and an historical figure from 2000 years ago? A privately-funded underground medical research team in New York City works to clone a messiah with DNA extracted from the Shroud of Turin. Stacey Manning, a brilliant young biochemist, is invited to join the team. She accepts because she wants to clone her sister, recently killed in a tragic auto accident. In Miami, terrorists are targeting Cuban-Americans. A group forms to oppose this threat, but what are the consequences for the lawyer who volunteers to undertake the role of avenger? Crossroads to Eden is a fast-paced ensemble novel of extraordinary characters and their journeys into the unexplored regions of alien possession, reproductive cloning guided by the miracles of contemporary science, and efforts to cope with domestic terrorism.
Spceial Care explores the moral and legal issues in neonatal intensive care. It is an urgently needed entry in the current discussions of treatment for badly damaged babies.
In this meditation on the different ways in which contemporary society construes the notion of political reason, Fred M. Frohock offers an alternative to the merit forms of reasoning prominent in liberal democracies. He argues that divisive issues such as abortion and physician-assisted suicide resist rational closure: reasonable individuals often reach different and contradictory conclusions. The temptation is to abandon reason and depict governing as an exercise of pure power. What resources do we have, Frohock asks, to develop a version of public reason which can succeed even in the deep pluralism anticipated in democratic practices? Frohock makes a provocative argument: the effects of divisive beliefs can be mitigated with a version of public reason defined as mediated speech acts. These acts are dialogues on the model of a guided conversation in which collective terms dominate simple merit adjudication. This type of public reasoning requires a survey of considerations beyond the merits of the case at hand. Frohock's book combines theory and illustrative cases to present an unusually broad survey of public reasoning in which abstract arguments are developed in the context of highly charged contemporary issues.
The daughter of a man about to leave on a trip wakes up crying during the night. She has just had a nightmare that his plane will crash. The father flies without incident to Spain, but the next day, the plane he has taken to Spain crashes and burns outside Malaga on its return trip to New York. Was the dream a premonition? Many people experience similar phenomena, ranging from extra-sensory perceptions all the way to near-death experiences on operating tables. Are these events evidence of the paranormal, or are they mere coincidences or hallucinations? How should we regard such claims of supernatural experiences? Lives of the Psychics, a journey through the terrain of psychic phenomena, tries to answer these questions through interviews with practicing psychics, a survey of the heroic attempts of researchers to test psychic abilities in controlled experiments, and an exploration of out-of-body, near-death, and mystical experiences. Fred M. Frohock brings together a wide variety of psychic claims and examines them with a rich set of materials—interviews, critical anecdotes, history, multiple theories of the paranormal—that allows him to use whatever tools are necessary to illuminate beliefs in the supernatural. He relates real-life events to scientific studies, so the reader is a party not only to fantastic experiences and first-hand stories of the paranormal but also to the rationales for these experiences proposed by scientists. There is no more rewarding guide to the limits and powers of science in explaining psychic phenomena. To a field filled with uncertainty and suspicion, Frohock brings a discerning eye, a critical sensibility, and a fundamental sense of curiosity about the role of mysticism in science. Even skeptics will be intrigued.
The personal testimony of individuals engaged in healing practices and the opposing voices of orthodox and alternative medicines are the center of Healing Powers. Focusing on medical norms and practices and on competing philosophies of the mind, the body, reality, and rationality across radically different "belief systems", Fred Frohock clarifies the social and legal dilemmas represented by "scientific medicine" and "alternative care." "Frohock goes beyond the often irreconcilable differences between scientific biomedicine and alternative care by clarifying the social and legal dilemmas they present. . . . A noteworthy contribution forcing us to rethink what medical care is all about."—Jeffrey Michael Clare, Journal of the American Medical Association "The book does more and better than simply provide a social-scientific proposal. It also gives not only a hearing but a voice to those who follow alternative therapies. . . . Frohock's accounts of their stories—along with the stories of the medical professionals—are eloquent and fascinating."—Allen Verhey, Medical Humanities Review "Contains a storehouse of valuable information about the historical, philosophical, and psychological bases of alternative approaches to healing."—Marshall B. Kapp, New England Journal of Medicine "Frohock introduces us to the scientific naturopaths and to physicians who believe in the mind's power to heal, to charismatics who believe in but cannot explain their powers, to those who test God and those who merely accept. He writes so well that I felt I had met these people."—Arthur W. Frank, Christian Century
Spceial Care explores the moral and legal issues in neonatal intensive care. It is an urgently needed entry in the current discussions of treatment for badly damaged babies.
In this meditation on the different ways in which contemporary society construes the notion of political reason, Fred M. Frohock offers an alternative to the merit forms of reasoning prominent in liberal democracies. He argues that divisive issues such as abortion and physician-assisted suicide resist rational closure: reasonable individuals often reach different and contradictory conclusions. The temptation is to abandon reason and depict governing as an exercise of pure power. What resources do we have, Frohock asks, to develop a version of public reason which can succeed even in the deep pluralism anticipated in democratic practices? Frohock makes a provocative argument: the effects of divisive beliefs can be mitigated with a version of public reason defined as mediated speech acts. These acts are dialogues on the model of a guided conversation in which collective terms dominate simple merit adjudication. This type of public reasoning requires a survey of considerations beyond the merits of the case at hand. Frohock's book combines theory and illustrative cases to present an unusually broad survey of public reasoning in which abstract arguments are developed in the context of highly charged contemporary issues.
Is death the final event in human life, or does another existence follow? What are the signs and possible proofs of such continuity? Such questions have sparked speculation in philosophy, religion, art, and science throughout human history and remain a familiar concern for even the most casual observer of the human condition. In his provocative new book, Fred Frohock explores the possibility that our existence is neither defined by nor limited to the purely physical-nor is it terminated at death. Fearlessly pursuing such a sensitive subject, Frohock suggests that death's domain may not be quite the "undiscovered country" lamented by Hamlet. He wades boldly into the debates between hardcore materialists and devout spiritualists; provides glimpses of recent findings in brain research, the so-called mind-body problem, and consciousness studies; and in general offers an idiosyncratic introduction to some of the most provocative and least understood aspects of what we call "conscious" life. In the process, he provides fresh insights into the narratives, claims, and conundrums associated with life after death, near-death and out-of-body experiences, reincarnation, and a host of psychic phenomena that continue to puzzle the experts. Demonstrating a keen grasp of subjects ranging from neurochemistry to popular culture, Frohock is a sure-footed tour guide through a richly diverse field of research. He considers what past life regression therapy suggests about reincarnation, assessing the credibility of pioneering research by Brian Weiss and Ian Stevenson. He introduces readers to the work of the University of Virginia's Near Death Experience Project, with reports stretching back 35 years, and the Human Consciousness Project's study of 1,500 survivors of cardiac arrest. And he contemplates whether people in permanent vegetative states, like Terri Schiavo and Sunny von Blow, are alive or not-and what these transitional states tell us about death. Leavened with humor and a Renaissance-style intellect that draws in Tolstoy and Hemingway along with films like Solaris and Blade Runner, Frohock's deep meditations are deftly interposed with brief fictional interludes that humanize his book's more abstract dimensions while exploring claims about the supernatural. Approaching the world's most baffling subjects with a critical eye, an open mind, and an agnostic's heart, Beyond looks beyond the last threshold and points the way toward a better understanding of human existence.
Paul Lorca, an American professor of cultural anthropology, is living in London during a sabbatical. One evening, while walking through crowded Leicester Square, he and his thirteen-year-old daughter, Sandra, lose each other. After a frantic search, he finds her. But during the course of the next several weeks, he comes to believe that it is not his daughter he has found, but someone or something else. What if it were possible to clone a beloved deceased family member and an historical figure from 2000 years ago? A privately-funded underground medical research team in New York City works to clone a messiah with DNA extracted from the Shroud of Turin. Stacey Manning, a brilliant young biochemist, is invited to join the team. She accepts because she wants to clone her sister, recently killed in a tragic auto accident. In Miami, terrorists are targeting Cuban-Americans. A group forms to oppose this threat, but what are the consequences for the lawyer who volunteers to undertake the role of avenger? Crossroads to Eden is a fast-paced ensemble novel of extraordinary characters and their journeys into the unexplored regions of alien possession, reproductive cloning guided by the miracles of contemporary science, and efforts to cope with domestic terrorism.
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