Death, Ritual, and Belief: The Rhetoric of Funerary RitesBloomsbury Publishing, 2002 M06 1 - 272 pages Describing a great variety of funeral ritual from major world religions and from local traditions, this book shows how cultures not only cope with corpses but also create an added value for living through the encouragement of afterlife beliefs. The explosion of interest in death in recent years reflects the key theme of this book - the rhetoric of death - the way cultures use the most potent weapon of words to bring new power to life. This new edition is one third longer than the original with new material on the death of Jesus, the most theorized death ever which offers a useful case study for students. There is also empirical material from contemporary/recent events such as the death of Diana and an expanded section on theories of grief which will make the book more attractive to death counsellors. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 62
Page 3
... deceased from the land of the living to whatever lies ahead . Even in secular contexts rites are performed to locate the dead firmly in the past and in memory . Accordingly , this chapter adopts a strong sociological emphasis to show ...
... deceased from the land of the living to whatever lies ahead . Even in secular contexts rites are performed to locate the dead firmly in the past and in memory . Accordingly , this chapter adopts a strong sociological emphasis to show ...
Page 5
... deceased , the greater is the sense of loss at death . Even the death of a national leader or some stage , screen or sports star can affect an individual's outlook on life . This book explores the ways people from different countries ...
... deceased , the greater is the sense of loss at death . Even the death of a national leader or some stage , screen or sports star can affect an individual's outlook on life . This book explores the ways people from different countries ...
Page 9
... deceased , they employ professionals other than clergy to engage in what is , effectively , a rhetoric of bereavement . Such rhetoric has long held a place in the funerals or memorial services for famous people , but increasingly this ...
... deceased , they employ professionals other than clergy to engage in what is , effectively , a rhetoric of bereavement . Such rhetoric has long held a place in the funerals or memorial services for famous people , but increasingly this ...
Page 14
... deceased , it recreates it and makes it capable of entering into new life ' ( 1960 : 43 ) . Symbolically speaking this clarifies what , earlier , we called the death of a microcosm . Insofar as the body represents society , and as such ...
... deceased , it recreates it and makes it capable of entering into new life ' ( 1960 : 43 ) . Symbolically speaking this clarifies what , earlier , we called the death of a microcosm . Insofar as the body represents society , and as such ...
Page 21
... deceased , arguing that ' psychologically and metaphysically it is death that they feared and not the spirit of the deceased ' ( 1980 : 35 ) . Similarly , in her description of how Jewish mothers responded to the sudden death of sons in ...
... deceased , arguing that ' psychologically and metaphysically it is death that they feared and not the spirit of the deceased ' ( 1980 : 35 ) . Similarly , in her description of how Jewish mothers responded to the sudden death of sons in ...
Contents
1 | |
Impurity Fertility and Fear | 24 |
3 Theories of Grief | 43 |
4 Violence Sacrifice and Conquest | 62 |
5 Eastern Destiny and Death | 81 |
6 Ancestors Cemeteries and Local Identity | 91 |
7 Jewish and Islamic Destinies | 118 |
8 Christianity and the Death of Jesus | 125 |
10 Somewhere to Die | 155 |
11 Souls and the Presence of the Dead | 163 |
12 Pet and Animal Death | 182 |
13 Book Film and Building | 196 |
14 Offending Death Grief and Religions | 211 |
15 Secular Death and Life | 224 |
Bibliography | 240 |
Index | 258 |
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Common terms and phrases
afterlife amongst ancestors animals anthropologist argued ashes aspects associated become belief bereavement Bloch body Britain British British Humanist Association Buddhism burial buried cemeteries cent Chapter Christian church concerned contemporary context corpse cremated remains crematoria cultures D. J. Davies death rites deceased described dying emotion emphasize especially euthanasia example existence express fact fact of death focused funeral rites funerary rites grave grief groups human idea identity important increasingly individual interpreted involved issue Jesus kind living major memory modern Mormon mortuary mummification nature near-death experience offending death particular performative utterance period pet death popular post-modernity practice psychological realm rebounding violence reflects reincarnation relationship relatively religion religious response resurrection rhetoric ritual sacrifice salvation secular sense shamanism significance social society sociological soul speak spiritual status stress stupa symbolic theological theory tomb traditional transcendence twentieth century words against death Zoroastrians