Appendix D

Glossary of Key Terms

Every book carries its own vocabulary. A pastoral handbook on grief, near-death experiences, deathbed visions, and the Christian hope of reunion uses terms drawn from theology, biblical languages, end-of-life research, and clinical grief care. Some terms will be familiar to you. Some will be new. A few may have been used in ways you have never heard before. This glossary is a quick reference. It will not replace the chapters that develop these ideas pastorally — but it will help you keep your bearings as you read, look up a term you have forgotten, or share a definition with a friend, a small group, or a grieving family member who has stumbled over an unfamiliar word.

1. Theological Terms

Intermediate state. The condition of a person between physical death and the bodily resurrection on the last day. It is the “in-between” — not the final state, but a real and conscious existence with the Lord for those who belong to Christ (2 Cor. 5:6–8). Developed in Chapter 2.

Conscious intermediate state. The biblical teaching that the soul of a believer remains awake, aware, and personally present with Christ from the moment of death until the resurrection of the body. This is the central pastoral promise of this book: your loved one in Christ is not asleep but is with the Lord right now (Phil. 1:23; Luke 23:43).¹

Soul sleep. The view, held by some Christian traditions, that the soul becomes unconscious at death and “sleeps” until the resurrection. Scripture's strongest statements about death and Christ — Paul's longing “to depart and be with Christ” (Phil. 1:23), Jesus' word to the dying thief (“Today you will be with me in paradise,” Luke 23:43) — point away from soul sleep and toward conscious presence with the Lord.

Substance dualism. The view that a human person is made of two real things: a material body and an immaterial soul (or spirit). The soul is not merely a function of the brain but a real, God-created reality that survives bodily death (Gen. 35:18; Matt. 10:28). Developed in Chapter 3.²

Christian physicalism. The view, held by some evangelical scholars, that the human person is purely physical and that all hope after death rests on the future bodily resurrection alone. This book gently disagrees: Scripture teaches that the soul survives the death of the body and is consciously with Christ until the resurrection.

Postmortem opportunity. The conviction that God's offer of salvation in Christ does not necessarily end at the moment of physical death — that a person who never had a real chance to know the true Christ in life may yet meet Him truly, in the dying process, in the intermediate state, or at the final judgment. Held by significant Church Fathers and serious contemporary evangelical scholars; developed in Chapter 13.³

Conditional immortality (CI). The view that human immortality is not built into the soul but is given by God to those who are united to Christ. Those who finally and freely reject God do not endure forever in conscious torment but pass into nonexistence — what Scripture calls “the second death” (Rev. 20:14).

Annihilationism. Another name for conditional immortality, emphasizing the outcome (the unsaved cease to exist) rather than the underlying view of human nature. The two terms are often used interchangeably in modern theology.

Eternal conscious torment (ECT). The traditional view that those who finally reject Christ remain conscious forever in punishment, never ceasing to exist. Many evangelical Christians hold this view; this book treats the question briefly and does not require the reader to adopt any single position to receive its pastoral hope.

Universal reconciliation (UR). The view that, in the end, God will reconcile all persons to Himself through Christ — that no one is finally and forever lost. Conservative versions affirm Christ as the only way of salvation but believe that, given enough time and grace, every soul will at last freely come to Him.

Conservative biblical universalism. A form of universal reconciliation that holds firmly to biblical authority, the necessity of faith in Christ for salvation, and the reality of postmortem judgment, but that believes judgment is corrective rather than finally destroying — and that all will at last freely come to Christ.

Inclusivism. The view that salvation is found only through the work of Christ, but that some persons who never heard the gospel in this life may yet be saved through Christ on the basis of their faith-response to the light God has given them.

Exclusivism. The view that salvation is found only through the work of Christ and is received only by those who place explicit, conscious faith in Christ. Most strict forms of exclusivism deny postmortem opportunity.

Paradise (paradéisos). A Greek word meaning “garden” or “park,” used by Jesus to describe where the believing thief would meet Him “today” (Luke 23:43). In the New Testament it refers to the abode of the righteous in the intermediate state — being with Christ.

Hades. The Greek word the New Testament uses for the realm of the dead — sometimes a general term for the place of the deceased, sometimes the part of that realm where the unrighteous wait. Hades is not the same as Gehenna (final hell); it is the intermediate “waiting” place (Luke 16:23; Rev. 20:13–14).

Sheol. The Hebrew word in the Old Testament for the realm of the dead, used for both the righteous and the unrighteous. By the time of Jesus, Jewish thought had developed a clearer picture of distinct conditions within Sheol — the foundation behind Jesus' teaching on Lazarus and the rich man (Luke 16:19–31).

Gehenna. The Greek word Jesus uses for the place of final judgment, drawn from the Valley of Hinnom outside Jerusalem. It is distinct from Hades; Gehenna is the final state of the lost, not the intermediate state.

Communion of saints. The Christian belief, confessed in the Apostles' Creed, that all believers — those still on earth and those with Christ in glory — are united in one body in Christ. The “great cloud of witnesses” (Heb. 12:1) is a glimpse of this unity. Developed pastorally in Chapter 24.

Resurrection of the body. The Christian hope that, at the return of Christ, the bodies of the dead will be raised, transformed, and reunited with their souls in glorified, immortal life (1 Cor. 15:42–44; Phil. 3:21). The intermediate state is real and conscious, but resurrection is the final state and the climax of Christian hope. Developed in Chapter 33.

New heaven and new earth. The biblical description of the renewed creation God will bring about after Christ's return — not an escape from creation but the redemption and restoration of it (Isa. 65:17; Rev. 21:1–4). Heaven, in the fullest sense, is the renewed world where God dwells with His people and every tear is wiped away.

Beatific vision. The traditional Christian term for the saints' direct, face-to-face seeing of God in glory (1 Cor. 13:12; 1 John 3:2; Rev. 22:4). The fullest joy of heaven is not a place but a Person — seeing Christ as He is.

Second death. A phrase used in Revelation (2:11; 20:6, 14; 21:8) for the final, ultimate judgment of those who are not in Christ. Conditional-immortality readers understand the second death as final cessation of existence; eternal-conscious-torment readers understand it as unending separation from God.

2. Biblical-Language Terms

Nephesh (נֶפֶשׁ). A Hebrew word often translated “soul,” but with a wider range — the living self, breath, life, person. In Genesis 35:18, Rachel's nephesh “departs” as she dies, showing that the soul is the living person who leaves the body at death.

Ruach (רוּח). A Hebrew word meaning “wind,” “breath,” or “spirit.” In Ecclesiastes 12:7, the ruach “returns to God who gave it” at death — a strong biblical witness that something real of the person continues beyond the body.

Neshamah (נְשָׁמָה). A Hebrew word for “breath” or “spirit,” used in Genesis 2:7, where God breathes the neshamah of life into the dust-formed man. It points to the personal, God-given quality of human life that distinguishes a human being from a clay figure.

Psyche (ψυχή). The Greek New Testament word for “soul,” roughly equivalent to nephesh. Jesus uses it in Matthew 10:28 — “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the psyche” — distinguishing the soul from the body and grounding His teaching in substance dualism.

Pneuma (πνεῦμα). The Greek word for “wind,” “breath,” or “spirit,” often used for the human spirit (1 Cor. 2:11), the Holy Spirit, or angelic beings. Like ruach, it points to the immaterial dimension of the human person.

Aion / aionios (αιών / αιώνιος). Greek words usually translated “age,” “eternity,” “eternal,” or “everlasting.” The exact meaning depends on context — sometimes “lasting forever,” sometimes “belonging to the age to come.” The translation matters in the ECT–CI–UR debate, though this book does not stake its pastoral claims on its precise sense.

Olam (עוֹלָם). The Hebrew counterpart to aion, meaning “age,” “long duration,” or “forever.” Like aion, its precise force depends on context: sometimes a long but finite age, sometimes truly endless duration.

Metanoia (μετάνοια). The Greek word for “repentance,” literally “a change of mind.” It is not merely sorrow over sin but a turning of the whole self toward God — the response God always invites, in this life and (the author believes) in the encounter with Christ that may follow it.

3. Near-Death and Deathbed Research Terms

Near-death experience (NDE). A vivid, often life-changing experience reported by some persons who came close to dying or were briefly clinically dead. Common features include a sense of leaving the body, a tunnel or passageway, a being of light, deceased loved ones, deep peace, and a sense of being sent back to life. Defined and developed in Chapter 4.⁴

Out-of-body experience (OBE). The aspect of an NDE in which the person seems to observe their own body and surroundings from outside — often able to report verifiable details from the operating room, the ceiling, or other parts of the hospital while their physical body lay unconscious.

Veridical NDE. An NDE that includes details the person could not have known by ordinary means — accurate observations of doctors' actions, conversations, or events outside the room — later confirmed by witnesses. Veridical reports are pastorally important because they offer evidence that the experience is more than a hallucination of an oxygen-starved brain.⁵

Distressing NDE. A near-death experience marked by fear, darkness, isolation, or a sense of judgment rather than peace and light. Less commonly reported than peaceful NDEs but well documented; treated pastorally in Chapter 20.

Life review. A common feature of NDEs in which the person experiences scenes from their life replayed — often feeling not only their own actions but the effect of those actions on others. Many describe being held in love throughout the review, even as they see their failures clearly.

Being of light. A common element in NDEs: an encounter with a personal presence of overwhelming love and light. In Christian-themed NDEs, this being is often identified — sometimes during the experience, sometimes after — as Jesus. Treated in Chapter 9.

Deathbed experience (DBE). An umbrella term for spiritually significant experiences reported by dying persons (or witnessed by loved ones at the bedside) in the days, hours, or minutes before death. Developed in Chapter 5.

Deathbed vision (DBV). A specific kind of DBE in which the dying person sees deceased loved ones, Jesus, angels, or “the place” they are about to enter. Reported by hospice nurses, chaplains, and pastors across cultures and centuries; developed in Chapter 8.⁶

Nearing-death awareness. Maggie Callanan and Patricia Kelley's term for the dying person's symbolic and direct knowledge that death is near and that loved ones are gathering — including statements about needing to “get ready,” speaking to unseen visitors, or naming a date or time of departure.⁷

Terminal lucidity. A sudden, often striking return of mental clarity in a person whose cognition had long been lost — for example, to advanced dementia — occurring in the hours or days before death. Pastorally treasured by families; developed in Chapters 11 and 17.⁸

Shared death experience (SDE). An experience in which a healthy person at the bedside of a dying loved one shares in some elements of the dying person's transition — seeing the room change, sensing a Light, feeling lifted, or briefly glimpsing deceased relatives. Documented by Raymond Moody, William Peters, and others; developed in Chapter 11.⁹

After-death communication (ADC). A reported experience in which a bereaved person seems to receive a meaningful contact from a deceased loved one — often through a vivid dream, a sensed presence, an unexplained event, or a brief vision. Treated theologically and pastorally in Chapter 22.¹⁰

Peak in Darien experience. A deathbed or NDE in which the dying person sees a deceased relative whom they did not know was dead. The phrase is borrowed from a 19th-century essay by Frances Power Cobbe, and these cases are among the more striking pieces of evidence that DBEs are not merely the wishful imagination of a dying brain.

Sensed presence. A bereavement experience in which the grieving person feels — without seeing or hearing anything specific — that the deceased loved one is briefly present nearby. Common, often comforting, and treated pastorally in Chapter 23.

Continuing bonds. A term in modern grief science (Klass, Silverman, and Nickman) for the healthy reality that grief does not require “letting go” but allows an ongoing inner relationship with the deceased — remembering them, speaking to them, drawing on their values. The book offers a Christian theology of continuing bonds in Chapter 24.¹¹

4. Pastoral and Clinical Terms

Anticipatory grief. Grief that begins before the death — during a long terminal illness, dementia, or hospice stay. It is real grief, often complicated by guilt over “mourning too soon,” and is treated pastorally in Chapter 18.

Ambiguous loss. A loss without clear closure — the missing person never recovered, the loved one with advanced dementia who is “still here but already gone,” the estranged family member who dies before reconciliation. A specialized form of grief that requires careful pastoral care.

Complicated grief. Grief that, after a sustained period (typically a year or more), remains acutely intense and disabling, blocking the bereaved person's ability to function. Distinct from normal long grief; treated in Chapter 31.

Prolonged grief disorder. The clinical diagnostic term used in current psychiatric manuals (DSM-5-TR) for complicated grief that has persisted at intense, function-impairing levels for at least twelve months after the death. It is a clinical diagnosis, not a moral failing, and may indicate the need for professional support.

Anniversary grief. The intensifying of grief around significant dates — the anniversary of the death, birthdays, holidays, and the season the loss occurred. Predictable and often painful, even years later; a normal feature of grief, treated in Chapter 31.

Bereavement. The objective state of having lost a loved one to death. The condition itself, distinct from “grief” (the inner experience) and “mourning” (the outward expression).

Mourning. The outward expression of grief — tears, lament, rituals, memorials, words spoken at the graveside, black armbands, casseroles brought to a neighbor's door. Mourning is the work grief does in the world; the Bible knows mourning as a holy practice (Matt. 5:4; Eccl. 3:4).

Lament. A specific biblical form of grief-prayer in which the sufferer brings honest sorrow, anger, and confusion to God — sometimes with complaint, sometimes with returning hope, always in the trust that God hears (Pss. 13, 22, 88; Lamentations; John 11:35). Lament is not unbelief. Lament is faith with its eyes open.