Other worlds
Subtitle: spirituality and the search for invisible dimensions
By: Christopher G. White
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Published: 2018
Place of publication: Cambridge, Massachusetts
Language: eng
Number of pages: 376
ISBN-13: 9780674984295
Copyright date: 2018
Subjects: Arts and religion; Esoterik; Religion and science; Dimension 4; Das Übernatürliche; Hyperspace; 20.05 art in relation with other areas of culture: general; University of South Alabama; Fourth dimension; Die Vision; Raumwahrnehmung; Spiritualität; Unsichtbarkeit
Description: For a long time, people have argued that the rise of science has caused the decline of religion. Other Worlds presents a different perspective, showing that modern Europeans and Americans often used scientific ideas in imaginative ways to develop new, enchanted views of nature, its fantastic borderlands, and the hidden spaces that might lie beyond it. This book examines the history and imaginative power of one scientific idea in particular, an idea that has become crucial in many settings, from modern physics to fantasy literature and science-fiction film--namely, the idea that the universe has higher, invisible dimensions. Drawing on archives from across the U.S. and the U.K., the author analyzes how scientists, writers, artists, screenwriters, televangelists, and others have used this idea to make supernatural phenomena such as ghosts and miracles seem more reasonable and make religious or spiritual beliefs possible again for themselves and others.--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction: Science, the supernatural, and higher realms; title: Edwin Abbott's otherworldly visions; title: The man who saw the fourth dimension; title: New heaven, new earth; title: Cathedrals without walls; title: Max Weber and the art of an invisible geometry; title: The spacetime of dreams; title: Mirrors, doorways, and otherworldy openings; title: Madeleine L'Engle disturbs the universe; title: One step beyond; title: Conclusion: The astonishing afterlife of the square.