While “‘Heaven Is for Real” lacks the rich descriptions and striking imagery of many previous accounts of the afterlife, it provides an excellent example of a favorite modern view. Where Christians once longed for complete communion with God, many now think of the great hereafter as the best family reunion imaginable, where God is relegated to the role of guest star.
Journalist and author Maria Shriver says heaven “is a place that you go to and once again become reunited with those you have loved and lost. That vision is what keeps me from falling apart. . . . That’s what I have faith in.”
Surrounded by religious pluralism, scientific materialism and universalism, many evangelical Christians feel the church’s teachings on eternal life are under attack. Into that milieu, “Heaven Is Real” provides proof of the transcendental in the form of eyewitness testimony. That the eyewitness is a guileless preschooler only adds to the appeal.
Not everyone agrees, of course.