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Gregory Shushan

Gregory Shushan, Ph.D., is an award-winning author of Near-Death Experience in Ancient Civilizations, Near-Death Experience in Indigenous Religions, and The Next World: Extraordinary Experiences of the Afterlife. He is also the editor of Mind Dust and White Crows: The Psychical Research of William James, and the forthcoming Universal Question Mark: The Psychical Research of E. R. Dodds. Shushan has held research posts at the University of Oxford, University College London, University of Wales, University of Winchester, and the Centro Incontri Umani, Switzerland. He has recently completed a second Ph.D., on near-death experiences in classical antiquity, at Birmingham Newman and Liverpool Hope Universities.

Published on the Secular Web

[ Modern Library ]
Modern Library

On Cross-Cultural and Historical Near-Death Experiences: A Secular Historian of Religions Answers a Critic

| September 4, 2026 | Modern Library
In this article Gregory Shushan responds to Keith Augustine's characterization of his recent article "Diversity and Similarity of Near-Death Experiences across Cultures and History: Implications for the Survival Hypothesis." Addressing Augustine's misconceptions of his theoretical, methodological, and disciplinary positioning, Shushan clarifies that he is a secular historian of religions who examines NDEs through cultural, historical, and ritual lenses. He reiterates that far from advocating a survivalist interpretation of the phenomenon, his article shows how the historical and cross-cultural accounts present distinct analytical challenges to both materialist and survivalist hypotheses. Shushan reaffirms his commitment to interpretive neutrality, emphasizing that the historical study of NDEs remains entirely independent of their underlying ontological status.
[ Modern Library ]
 
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