A TRAVEL GUIDE TO HEAVEN

Forget angels playing harps. In this fascinating, comforting book, DeStefano takes the reader on a tour of heaven, painting it as a dynamic place of unlimited joy, and using Scripture and dramatic imagination to fill in details about the afterlife. "God doesn't throw away the good things he creates," he writes, an idea which is the basis of many of his speculations about heaven. Heaven is a tangible place, believes DeStefano, and at least part of it will be a transformed new earth. People will have their own recognizable bodies, only perfected. DeStefano tackles tough questions about heaven, including the role of angels, the measurement of time, marriages and whether pets will be there ("Of course!"). Fears of boredom are dispelled with his depictions of possible activities ("How about a tour of the Andromeda galaxy?") and creative work ("Books will be written and read, public structures will be built and utilized"). However, he writes that nothing will compare with the thrill of meeting God, the source of true happiness. DeStefano persuasively argues that the idea of heaven is a positive force on earth, since "faith in God and heaven makes you more interested in what you do in this life—not less." He is neither an academic nor a professional theologian, which gives the book its delightfully conversational tone and frees him to conjecture without restraint. Many readers will find DeStefano's solid Christian framework reassuring and his exciting picture of heaven compelling. (Sept. 16)

Forecast:One remarkable element of DeStefano's work is its theological similarity to Elizabeth Stuart Phelps's active, growth-oriented, neighborly vision of heaven in The Gates Ajar (1868) and Beyond the Gates (1885). Doubleday is surely hoping that this encouraging title will enjoy similarly celestial sales: Phelps's books sold more than 100,000 copies in the U.S. alone, a remarkable feat for the times.