Lisa Miller

  • Home
  • About Lisa Miller
  • Contact Lisa
  • About “Heaven”
    • Praise for “Heaven”
  • Book Clubs

How Jews Invented Heaven

March 28, 2010 By Lisa Miller

Do Jews believe in heaven? I can’t begin to count the number of times I’ve been asked this question. Modern people—and especially Jews raised in the Reform tradition—are flummoxed by the notion of heaven, and the rabbis are less than helpful. “Jews believe it is this life that matters, not the next”: You hear this […]

Filed Under: Religion Tagged With: heaven

Can Science Explain Heaven?

March 26, 2010 By Lisa Miller

There are those who believe that science will eventually explain everything—including our enduring belief in heaven. The thesis here is very simple: heaven is not a real place, or even a process or a supernatural event. It’s something that happens in your brain as you die. I first encountered this idea as I was researching […]

Filed Under: BeliefWatch: Lisa Miller, Newsweek, Religion Tagged With: heaven, Lisa Miller

Excerpt from “Heaven”

March 25, 2010 By Lisa Miller

It’s Easter—that most pleasant of springtime holidays—when children stuff themselves with marshmallows and stain their fingers with pastel dyes. In reality, of course, Easter is about something darker and more fantastic. It’s a celebration of the final act of the Passion, in which Jesus rose from his tomb in his body three days after his […]

Filed Under: BeliefWatch: Lisa Miller, Newsweek Tagged With: Christians, heaven, Lisa Miller, quran

The Statesman’s Joshunda Sanders Interviews Lisa

March 24, 2010 By Lisa Miller

Eighty percent of Americans believe in heaven, and yet, if you were to ask most people what they believed Heaven to be, it would be unlikely that you’d hear the same thing too often. Terrorists responsible for Sept. 11 were promised a heaven that included 72 virgins. Others think of heaven as a place where […]

Filed Under: Appearances and Media, Reviews of Heaven Tagged With: heaven, Lisa Miller

03/25/2010 NPR: The Diane Rehm Show

March 23, 2010 By Lisa Miller

On March 25th, Lisa appeared on NPR and WAMU’s “Diane Rehm Show. You can listen to the podcast by clicking on the “listen” link in the top right corner of the show page. Or you can open to the show player directly here. local mirror of this podcast

Filed Under: Appearances and Media, Audio Tagged With: heaven

ReligionDispatches.org Ten Questions for Lisa Miller

March 23, 2010 By Lisa Miller

Where contemporary culture has come to think of heaven as a place to chat, catch up with friends, and eat ice cream, conservative believers are concerned that God has been left out of the picture. A new book by Newsweek’s religion editor, Lisa Miller, covers this and other top stories on the celestial beat. Ten […]

Filed Under: Appearances and Media Tagged With: Bible, Book of Revelation, heaven, Lisa Miller

HarperCollins

March 23, 2010 By Lisa Miller

Buy “Heaven” at HarperCollins.com

Filed Under: Buy "Heaven" Now Tagged With: heaven

The Washington Post’s Sally Quinn Interviews Lisa

March 22, 2010 By Lisa Miller

On March 22nd, 2010, Sally Quinn interviewed Lisa for the The Washington Post in a video called “Divine Impulses: Newsweek religion editor Lisa Miller on the decline of hell.” Miller talks about the “paradox” of heaven and the myths and truths behind claims of “72 virgins” for Muslim holy warriors.

Filed Under: Appearances and Media, Video Tagged With: heaven, Lisa Miller

Huffington Post’s Rabbi David Wolpe on “Heaven”

March 22, 2010 By Lisa Miller

Mark Twain quipped that people assume heaven will be green fields and harp music — an eternity of activities no one would enjoy for five minutes while still alive. Here is a central dilemma of our preoccupation with heaven. Our imaginations are limited by our experience. When we read fantasy, or science fiction, it is […]

Filed Under: Reviews of Heaven Tagged With: heaven, Lisa Miller

Entertainment Weekly’s Tina Jordan Gives “Heaven” an A-

March 17, 2010 By Lisa Miller

In her brainy, engaging book Heaven — a sweeping historical and literary geography of heaven — she talks to priests, a Dominican monk, Muslim clerics, rabbis, and professors (and even visits a psychic, who channels a balding Ed Asner look-alike — no one she knows, though she racks her brain). She doesn’t ignore pop culture, […]

Filed Under: Reviews of Heaven Tagged With: heaven

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • Next Page »

About Lisa Miller

Lisa-Miller-Headshot

Lisa Miller is a staff writer at New York magazine. She is the former religion columnist for the Washington Post, former senior editor of Newsweek magazine, and author of "Heaven: Our Enduring Fascination with the Afterlife."

In 2014, Lisa Miller was nominated for the National Magazine Award and featured in Best Magazine Writing of 2014.

read more...

NOMINATED FOR THE NATIONAL MAGAZINE AWARD

Lisa-Miller-Headshot

Recent Tweets

  • I retract my critique of the handmaids tale May 4, 2022 12:32 am
  • Before: daughter leaves for school. Her father yells, “learn something new!” Now: daughter leaves for school. He… https://t.co/HNQeWazKqJ May 3, 2022 10:19 pm
  • Wordle 304 2/6 ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 April 19, 2022 11:25 am
  • Go @mollyhfischer! xoxox https://t.co/Fo4wcfQa31 March 29, 2022 7:06 pm
  • Wordle 282 X/6 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 March 28, 2022 3:07 pm
  • https://www.twitter.com/lisaxmiller

Recent Posts

  • Children of Quarantine
  • My Therapists Were Right About Uncertainty
  • Why Did I Think She Wouldn’t Die?
  • The Making of a Molotov Cocktail
  • Two Weeks With Rachel Noerdlinger, the Movement’s Publicist

Copyright © 2022 Lisa Miller