Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Book Review and Dialogue on "Soul Survivor"

Back in late 2009 I read the book Soul Survivor: The Reincarnation of a World War II Fighter Pilot which was co-authored by Bruce and Andrea Leininger.  The book narrates the story of the Leininger's son, James, who they now believe to be the reincarnation of a World War II fighter pilot James Huston who served on the ship the Natoma Bay.  I don't think I would have read the entire book except for the fact that Bruce Leininger had somewhat of an evangelical background being influenced by the writings of C. S. Lewis. I wanted to see how Bruce analyzed his son's experiences in terms of a biblical world view.  I was so engaged with the story I wrote Bruce Leininger a nine page letter detailing out my analysis and concerns regarding his seeming promotion of reincarnation.  Bruce politely responded and we corresponded a bit but then the communication stopped from his end.  Later I shortened those nine pages down to about two and published a review of the book at Amazon.com.  In response to this review a gentlemen began to engage me in a dialogue that quickly moved to many areas (historicity of the gospels in the Bible, UFO's, other "gospel", etc.)  For those interested they can access my review and dialogue HERE. 

*UPDATE (6/23/2021):
Amazon no longer has the comment section on their book reviews.  The exchange I mentioned above is no longer accessible and I didn't have a copy downloaded.