J. Arthur Hill Explained

J. Arthur Hill should not be confused with John Hill (actor).

John Arthur Hill (4 December 1872 – 22 March 1951), best known as J. Arthur Hill, was a British psychical researcher and writer. He is credited with having coined the term out-of-the-body experience in 1918.^[1]

Biography

Hill was born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, and was educated at Thornton Grammar School. He worked as a business manager until he suffered ill health. He was a member of the Society for Psychical Research (1927–1935) and was known for his writings on parapsychology and spiritualism.^{[2] [3]}

In 1914, Hill wrote an article Is the Earth Alive? which was later expanded into a chapter in his Psychical Miscellanea (1920). Influenced by Gustav Fechner he speculated that the earth is a living spirit being.^{[4] [5]} Reviewers ridiculed this belief.^[6]

Hill greatly admired the philosophy of Ralph Waldo Emerson. In 1919, he wrote a book on the subject.^[7]

Reception

Hill's most known work was his Spiritualism: Its History, Phenomena and Doctrine (1919).^{[8] [9]} Arthur Conan Doyle wrote a supportive introduction to the book but later commented in 1926 that it was "written from a strictly psychic research point of view, and is far behind the real provable facts."^[10] Psychical researcher Hereward Carrington described the book as a "fair and impartial summary."^[11]

His books were criticized by skeptics. Psychologist Millais Culpin wrote that Hill was gullible in trusting the word of mediums and did not know anything about dissociation.^[12]

See also

• Edward Trusted Bennett

Publications

• Religion and Modern Psychology (London: William Rider & Son, 1911)
• New Evidences in Psychical Research (London: William Rider & Son, 1911) [With an introduction by [[Oliver Lodge]]]
• The Hope of Immortality - Is it Reasonable?. In What Happens After Death? A Symposium by Leading Writers and Thinkers. (New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1916)
• Psychical Investigations (New York: Doran, 1917)
• Emerson and His Philosophy (William Rider & Son, 1919)
• Spiritualism and Psychical Research (London: T. C. & E. C. Jack, 1919)
• Man is Spirit (New York: Doran, 1918)
• Spiritualism: Its History, Phenomena and Doctrine (New York: Doran, 1919) [With an introduction by [[Arthur Conan Doyle]]]
• Psychical Miscellanea (New York: Harcourt, Brace & Howe, 1920)
• From Agnosticism to Belief (London: Methuen & Co, 1924)
• Psychical Science and Religious Belief (London: Rider & Company, 1929)
• Letters from Sir Oliver Lodge (London: Cassell, 1932)
• Experiences With Mediums (London: Rider & Company, 1934)

Notes and References

1. Book: Schlieter, Jens . 2018 . What Is it Like to Be Dead?: Near-Death Experiences, Christianity, and the Occult . Oxford University Press . 146 . 978-0190888855.
2. http://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/hill-john-arthur-1872-1951 "John Arthur Hill (1872-1951)"
3. http://www.pflyceum.org/306.html "J. Arthur Hill"
4. Hill, J. Arthur. (1914). Is the Earth Alive?. The National Review 63: 1053.
5. Anonymous. (1918). Books on Psychical Research. The American Review of Reviews 57: 442.
6. Anonymous. (1920). Books in Brief: Psychical Miscellanea by J. Arthur Hill. The Nation 111: 49.
7. Anonymous. (1919). Emerson and His Philosophy. The Bookman 57: 10.
8. B. C. A. W. (1919). Review: Spiritualism by J. Arthur Hill. Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review 8 (30): 344–346.
9. Fenn, W. W. (1920). Review Spiritualism and Its History, Phenomena and Doctrine by J. Arthur Hill. Harvard Theological Review 13 (2): 200–202.
10. [Arthur Conan Doyle|Doyle, Arthur Conan]
11. [Hereward Carrington|Carrington, Hereward]
12. [Millais Culpin|Culpin, Millais]