"The Biblical accounts are full of trance states," says this Georgetown University scholar. When I ask him why our society trusts accounts of ASC from 2,000 years ago, but less so now, he agrees that mystical states are just as available to us now as then.

"Nobody has done more than John Pilch to popularize the use of an ASC model for understanding the visions, sky journeys and other ecstatic experiences reported in biblical texts. He is to be credited for pointing out the ethnocentrism in traditional biblical research that do not take visions, soul journeys and the like seriously as culturally plausible human phenomena. He introduced the notion of alternate states of consciousness (ASCs), a well-known category in anthropological research, to biblical interpretation in an attempt to avoid the ethnocentrism that considers such reports as either nonhistorical or fictional."   Pieter F. Craffert

John Pilch (1937 - 2016) Prof of Religious Studies Georgetown University.  He was known for his breakthrough work in biblical anthropology.  John was a personal friend of Dr. Goodman, the founder of the Cuyamungue Institute.

From the Archives: This live interview was recorded on May 7, 2003 on the nationally syndicated radio program The Laura Lee Show. See more at www.lauralee.com

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