Between Heaven and Hell: A Dialog Somewhere Beyond Death with John F. Kennedy, C. S. Lewis Aldous Huxley Paperback – Special Edition, May 16, 2008

The Overview:This is one of a recent slew of books that deal with hypothetical conversations between great people, such as Ravi Zacharias's "Lotus and the Cross" which is a conversation between Jesus and Buddha, or Truman Madsen's "Five Classics" which has a hypothetical conversation between Joseph Smith and a mother with a blind baby. They provide a vehicle for translating the philosophy into practical reality of day-to-day life and pain.Of course the godfather of all these dialogues is Plato. The power and charm of this method of presentation is that it takes what is oftentimes an ethereal philosophical concept and translates it to realistic situations, such as the price of tomatoes or why I am hurting.The Idea:Due to an odd coincidence, President John F. Kennedy, Dr. C. S. Lewis, and Aldous Huxley died on the same day: 22 November 1963. Dr. Kreeft imagines what happens in the afterlife as these three men meet and interact. In a Socratic sense, Kreeft uses these three men to elaborate the three types of Christianity present today: Lewis and the traditional Christianity; Kennedy and the modern Christianity; and Huxley and the mystical Christianity.The real question behind all of the words and wrangling is the divinity of Christ. When that doctrine goes, everything else uniquely Christian soon falls, so the afterlife discussion is of capital importance for Christians. We allow people the freedom to believe whatever they want to believe, but there is commitment to the truth along with the commitment to good feelings and respect for other people.The main thrust of the book is to show by logic that Christ was in fact divine. These arguments are great apologetic scaffolding prior to gaining a personal witness. We sometimes get caught up in the idea that religion is solely and affair of the heart, but this book reminds us that God also gave us a brain, and that has a bearing on how and what we worship.By the way, Gov. Jesse Ventura once remarked "Organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers." I wonder how well and how long the Hon. Gov.Ventura would stand in a debate with Dr. Peter Kreeft?The Book:The prose is an easy read. Peter Kreeft is one of these rare people who combine laser logic with righteous wit! That is what makes this book not only challenging but enchanting.The text is formatted like a script or play, so it is easy to keep track of who is talking and you can keep the characters and ideas straight. I guess if he wanted to, this book could make a frictionless transition to TV or VHS. The story is presented in one long act, with ample sidebar summaries to help you keep the arguments ordered, although I wonder if it would have been better to divide the text into scenes or acts to help punctuated the discussion.The cover-art is classic, and I hope they keep the same picture on every edition--it helps to see these three great men together as we weigh their ideas and viewpoints.My religion (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) does not have a strong apologetics tradition per se: we say, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God" (James 1:5), and be honest with the answer you get to your prayer. So it was fascinating to read the book and understand the sophisticated logic behind what Kreeft another others believe, the logical reason why he believes in the divinity of Christ.

I enjoyed this book very much. Peter Kreeft is a brilliant creative writer that captures the essence of all three men in Between Heaven and Hell. Those three men being:C.S. Lewis - A Professor of Mid Evil and Renaissance Literature at Oxford and Cambridge University. He wrote more than thirty books in his life, most of them having to do with (or symbolically related to) Divine philosophy and theology. Most popular among them are The Chronicles of Narnia Movie Tie-in Box Set Prince Caspian (rack), Mere Christianity,The Screwtape Letters: Letters from a Senior to a Junior Devil, Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life, and The Great DivorceJohn Fitzgerald Kennedy - American President and renowned war hero. Saved America from the Cuban Missile Crises, and set into motion what has become modern day NASA. He was a very smart man who graduated Cum Laude from Harvard University. However his degree was in international affairs, and at its heart his thesis/book Why England Slept was a deep look into international affairs as well. Kennedy therefore was not a philosopher, and so doesn't get a lot to say in this book, which is mainly on divine philosophy.Aldous Huxley- Was a renowned British Universal Writer/Philosopher. He spent most of his life writing novels, short stories, and film scripts. His book mostly having to do with the relations of "Between Heaven and Hell" is The Perennial Philosophy: An Interpretation of the Great Mystics, East and West (P.S.) He is also very famous for his philosophy of taking psychedelic drugs to connect with the divine. Huxley was a sort of Hunter S. Thompson of his generation.What do these three have in common? They all died on November the 22nd 1963. This book is a speculation of these three men meeting in the afterlife, and discussing various religious philosophies.The towering argument in this book is on the Deity of Jesus Christ. Was He God, or man, or both, or not at all?Overall a very enjoyable, thought provoking book that in my opinion really captures the characters of these men, and the things that they would have/might have said on the divine had this situation really come about. Reading this book I felt as though I was propelled back to C.S. Lewis's The Great Divorceas these two books have enormous similarities on the subject of afterlife speculation.

Easy read. Makes you feel like you are sitting right there listening to these discussions.Once you begin this book you’ll what to just keep reading it until finished.This is a wonderful book for a Christian to digest.

This is a good read if you want to understand what Kreeft would identify as the essence of these three systems of belief. However, he never gives an explanation for the location/state of the conversation, which left me wanting. (Of course it’s contrived—a literary device—I do realize that.) I also wished that the miracles of Jesus were more woven into the argument.