Reincarnation

Julia Schneider
• Derives from Latin word meaning “entering the flesh again”
• Greek equivalent, metempsychosis (meta- change, empsykhoun- to put a
soul into)
• Pythagoras- Greek philosopher (Jewish, prophet Ezekiel)
• 6th century: stated that the soul was immortal, and after the death
of the body, could own another body, sometimes an animal.
• Reincarnation theory introduced to west

History and Meaning

 • Rebirth of an individual that persists after bodily death—
whether it be consciousness, mind, or the soul
• 1000 to 600 B.C.
• South and East Asia, Middle East, parts of Africa
(Southern & West), and parts of Europe (Greece).
• Hinduism
History and • Jainism (all living things, even some none
Meaning living, have a souls), Buddhism
• Not Christianity, Islam, Judaism
Cont’d • Suggestive of reincarnation in holy scriptures through
multiple religions
• John the Baptist (Elijah) & Moses- Matthew 17:1-
13, Deuteronomy 18:15
• Cain (Jethro) & Abel (Moses)- Genesis 4:1-16,
Exodus 18:1-12
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmZ8F-mR4Vc
University of Virginia

• Division of Perceptual Studies

• investigates phenomena not proved by
science such as reincarnation, near
death experiences, out-of-body
experiences, and altered states of
consciousness
-Dr. Ian Stevenson (1918-2007)
-Dr. Jim Tucker (1960-p.d.)
Dr. Ian Stevenson
• Psychiatrist who worked for the University of Virginia School of Medicine for 50 years.
Founder and Director of the university’s Division of Perceptual studies. Discovered
evidence suggesting that memories and physical injuries can be transferred from one
lifetime to another.
• Published “Reincarnation and Biology: A Contribution to the Etiology of Birthmarks and
Birth Defects.”
• Focused on deformities and other anomalies children are born with that cannot be
traced back to inheritance, prenatal or perinatal occurrences.
• 210 cases of children having memories and birthmarks which correspond with the lives
and wounds of deceased people whom these children recalled as having lived a past-
life.
• Various tribes of West Africa make marks on the body of the recently deceased in
order to be able to identify the person when he or she is reborn.
Dr. Ian Stevenson Cont’d
• In 35% of cases he investigated, children who died an unnatural death developed
phobias.
• For example, if they had drowned in a past life then they frequently developed a phobia about
going out of their depth in water.
• Children usually begin to talk about their memories between the ages of two and four.
Such infantile memories gradually dwindle when the child is between four and seven
years old

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HX4rHtPu_vg (20:53) Dr. Stevenson

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq8l4XVfgPA (15:32) Purnima
Jim Tucker’s hypothesis on Reincarnation
Statistics
 Dr. Eben Alexander

• Neurosurgeon of 25+ years: Brigham & Women’s Hospital,

Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mg9V2351FFY
• NDE & past life experiences
• Empty slate, amnesia, “jello” realm, “gateway valley”
realm
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-4iBmWV978 (19:10)
• Jesus Christ is the Buddha of the West –Thich Quang
Duc
Victimhood, every death is a suicide
• The idea of reincarnation as to correct bad intent from past lives
• ‘as spirits travel between different physical vessels it continues from the
same evolutionary point from where it started for a new learning or to
restore the balance lost in earlier stages’
• Contract of life, are we given a choice (i.e. Sandra Rogers, NDE)
• “I was given the choice of remaining with the light, provided I
return later to the physical world and experience all that
brought me to the point of shooting myself, or I could return
now and pick up my life where it was”
 Questions
• If past life regressions happen to Christians
than how does that work?
• Judgement: What does reincarnation say
about how we are judged? Is there a time of
judgement before God when we die as the
bible suggests?
• Theme of understanding, love and
compassion in NDE
• Children who claim to remember previous
lives have been found in every part of the
world, but they are found most easily in the
countries of South Asia, why?
• Allegory of the cave: western
upbringing does not allow for that
area of the mind to be explored,
therefore, many individuals in the
west never obtain that type of
information
References:
• Dr. Ian Stevenson's Reincarnation Research - Near-Death Experiences
and the Afterlife
• reincarnation | Definition & Facts | Britannica
• The Science of Reincarnation—VIRGINIA Magazine (uvamagazine.org)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJ9UtuWfs3U&t=970s
• http://www.theosophydownunder.org/library/theosophical-articles/r
eincarnation-in-traditional-african-religion-the-igbo-of-nigeri-by-igwe-
amakulo/

• https://near-death.com/early-christianity/#:~:text=The%20following%
20quote%20from%20Jesus%20in%20the%20Gospel,you%20will%20b
ear%21%E2%80%9D%20%28Gospel%20of%20Thomas%2C%20saying