Thomas G. Plante is Professor of psychology, and by courtesy, religious studies, at Santa Clara University. He is also Adjunct Clinical professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine, USA.

Gary E. Schwartz is Professor of Psychology, Medicine, Neurology, Psychiatry, and Surgery at the University of Arizona. He is also Director of the Laboratory for Advances in Consciousness and Health in the Department of Psychology at the University of Arizona, USA.

Introduction Part I: The Personal and Storied Experience of Divine and Departed Communications 1.Marginalizing the Sacred: The Clinical Contextualization of Sensed Presence Experiences 2.Understanding Lived Experiences of Encountering the Divine and the Departed 3.Personal Experiences of Communication with the Departed, the Sacred, and the Divine - A Self-Science Approach Part II: Theological Considerations 4.Travels Beyond 5."God saw . . . and God knew . . .": Science, Divine Action, and Un/answered Prayers 6."My Soul is Not Me": Monistic Anthropologies and Participatory Prayer 7.Christian Perspectives on Praying for Deliverance from Demons 8.Islamic Perspectives on Human Interaction with the Divine, the Sacred, Saints, and the Deceased Part III: Medical, Technological, and Scientific Considerations [...] and Healing 10.Implications of the Emerging Science of Consciousness for Prayer and Divine Experience 11.Murder, Truth and Justice, and Religion: Altered Carbon and the Ambiguity of Real Death 12.Ghosts and Gods in the Machine: Human-Machine Interfaces in Transhuman Philosophy 13.Contemporary Evidence for Communication with the Departed and the Sacred Part IV: Psychological Considerations [...] Process of Believing and Communicating with the Unseen [...] Meaning of Beliefs in Communicating with God and the Deceased for Individuals' Well-being 16.Perceiving Messages from the Divine and Departed: An Attributional Perspective 17.Ethical Challenges with Communication with the Divine and the Departed Conclusion