Eternal life : a new vision, beyond religion, beyond theism, beyond heaven and hell / John Shelby Spong.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Setting the stage : a necessary personal word -- Life is accidental -- All life is deeply linked -- Life is mortal -- The lure of religion -- Life's dominant drive : survival -- Religion's role in the fear of death -- The faces of religion -- The tools of religious manipulation -- Ridding religion of both heaven and hell -- Putting away childish things : the death of religion -- The shift of the religious paradigm -- Who am i? What is God? -- The approach of the mystics -- Resurrection : a symbol and a reality -- Hiding, thinking, being -- I believe in life beyond death -- Epilogue : defining the choice to die.

In this remarkable spiritual journey about his life-long struggle with the questions of God and death, Bishop Spong reveals how he ultimately came to believe in eternal life. God, says Spong, is ultimately one, and each of us is part of that oneness. This is how we live on after death: not in Heaven or Hell, but as part of the eternity that continues after we die beyond the barriers of time and space. Spong says the discovery of the eternal can be found within each of us as we go deeper into ourselves and become most fully human. By seeking it, by living each day to its fullest, we will come to understand how we live eternally.