- 150 - 3. 0 Spirit Communication in the Post-Apostolic Age and in Modern Times 3. 1 Introductory Remarks (By Priest Johannes Greber) After I had received the teachings set down in the second part of this book, relating to the laws of spirit communication and to the manifestations recorded in the Bible, it was left to me to study spirit communication in other ages of the history of mankind and to compare it with what I had learned from the spirit world. I was urged to investigate especially what goes on at the spiritistic séances of today, as well as what modern science has to say about ‘mediums’ and the messages delivered by them. I would gladly have investigated also the writings of the past by ancient authors, pagan as well as Christian, insofar as they dealt with communication with the spirit world. For this I would have had to study the works of the ancient Greek and Roman philosophers, poets and historians. I would have had to go through all the writings of the church fathers and of ecclesiastical authors, from the post-apostolic age down into the Middle Ages, not to mention the works of the mystics. I could also not have ignored the innumerable accounts of the lives and accomplishments of the Catholic saints if I hoped to lay claim to an exhaustive study of the subject. Furthermore, I would have had to sift through the enormous amount of material contained in books and periodicals on modern ‘occultism’. At the very first glance I was forced to admit to myself that such an undertaking would require the labour of a whole lifetime. I therefore decided to add only three chapters to this book. In them, it was my intention to show briefly on my own that spirit communication was a generally known and accepted fact in the post-apostolic age, and that it is practiced also in the present day, even though it may not yet be accepted by the people of today, and that, furthermore, it proceeds according to the same laws as those set out in this book, which have been the same throughout the past and will remain so forever. Thus, the following chapters came to be written: • Spirit Communication in the Post-Apostolic Age. • The Part Played by the Spirits in the Lives of a Protestant and a Catholic Clergyman of the 19th Century. • Spiritism in the light of Modern Science.
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