The Preface to That Distant Shore by Adrian Roberts

My purpose in writing this book is simple: to present a credible case for belief in an afterlife of some kind. I’m aware that plenty of people across the world already believe in such a thing. However, I often find that in conversations about death any talk of what we might have to hope for hereafter is seen as off-limits, perhaps even as embarrassing. It seems to be regarded as a piece of outdated superstition, at odds with what should be obvious to anyone in a scientifically-educated, technologically-advanced society: death is the end of all our hopes. I’ve noticed this phenomenon in both the secular, and more surprisingly, some of the religious circles in which I move.

My idea for the book pre-dated the recent appearance of a terrifying new pandemic, followed as it has been by warfare returning to the west. However, I have noticed from the many recent discussions on these topics both in the media and elsewhere in my own country at least, that my previous suspicions have been corroborated that the afterlife is somehow an unacceptable subject for conversation. Hope for an afterlife is not so much dismissed as not even mentioned.

In a situation like this there are of course many other priorities to talk about, but I would have thought that conversations, among Christians at least, about the pandemic and other threats to life might more often contain reference to the central Christian doctrine of resurrection from the dead. Belief in resurrection is, of course, belief in an afterlife of a particularly striking variety. And, generally speaking, whatever your background beliefs, if you are suffering from a life-threatening illness, or witnessing the terminal sufferings of someone you love, it surely makes just a little difference to things if you are presented with the possibility of an afterlife as opposed to the expectation of total and permanent extinction.

When talking to people who have been bereaved, whatever their background beliefs, I have found that they are often much comforted by the reflection that they may not merely have to rely on cherished memories to keep their loved one somehow alive to them, but that they are entitled to hope for a full and glorious restoration to life both for themselves and for all they have loved.

And I believe that this hope is not something that should be marginalised or dismissed, but something which we have every reason to put at the forefront of discussion when faced with the unavoidable fact of death. And I’m sure I’m not alone, among both Christians and people of other faiths, in feeling it appropriate to express this hope in conversation, and especially so with those who have been bereaved.

And so I offer the following pages as a hopeful contribution to a discussion about the two very straightforward possibilities which will affect us all one way or the other. We will all sooner or later die, and thereafter, either we will continue to exist or we won’t. Neither possibility is certain, but then neither can be discounted. And if good reasons can be found for supposing we might continue to exist, they are surely worth exploring.

I have deliberately designed each chapter to be read if desired as a stand-alone discussion of a particular topic connected with my main argument, but each ends with an invitation to continue, and each contributes to my over-all position.

Broadly speaking, my argument runs like this. Dismissal of the idea of an afterlife is connected with a prevailing world view I have called for convenience ‘materialism’, according to which nothing exists beyond the observable physical world. Humans are therefore just bodies which disintegrate at death. This world view is open to question at a number of points, and if it is possible that there is something more to being human than a physical body, the possibility of an afterlife might be back on the agenda. I then consider the question of near death experiences, discuss whether these might provide actual evidence for an afterlife, and conclude that sometimes they might.

I go on to look at specifically Christian beliefs about resurrection, and ask whether they are compatible with the more disembodied-sounding possibilities raised in the previous chapters. I conclude that Christian resurrection is a credible belief (though of course not proven) and, perhaps surprisingly, that sense can be made of it within more general intimations of an afterlife, even though at first sight these more disembodied versions might seem to contradict it. Finally, I look at traditional Christian teachings about heaven and hell, and consider how these have been challenged and reformulated over the years.

A book like this cannot hope to provide a comprehensive over-view of all the many beliefs about an afterlife held by the various religious traditions across the world. One obvious omission, which some may find disappointing, is reincarnation and related beliefs. I would never discount reincarnation as a possibility, especially since I reject materialism as a world view, but I am scarcely qualified to discuss it in any depth, and would rather defer to those who have spent their lives living and worshipping within the relevant traditions for which it is a fundamental belief.

However, I would want to make a couple of brief points: a version of reincarnation in which the soul ultimately reaches some sort of heavenly bliss, or nirvana, after a multiplicity of lives has, oddly enough, at least one thing in common with the Christian hope of resurrection: in both systems of belief, the essential person (however characterised) is destined for an eternity of conscious happiness. Conversely, according to a version of reincarnation in which the soul ultimately loses its conscious identity and is re-absorbed into some undifferentiated reality, the person effectively ceases to exist. This, from the person’s perspective, would be much the same as having no afterlife at all.

Of course, I might just be wrong about the whole thing. Any beliefs about what might await us beyond the barrier of death are ultimately just speculation, even if speculation guided by philosophical reflection and the insights of great spiritual traditions. However, I very much hope I’m not wrong, and it is in the light of my hope that I have written this book.