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 86
Page 1
... individuals have coped with their own loss , with psychologists providing more technical accounts of grief . This book ... individual and society are transformed and gain a sense of power which motivates ongoing life . To state this same ...
... individuals have coped with their own loss , with psychologists providing more technical accounts of grief . This book ... individual and society are transformed and gain a sense of power which motivates ongoing life . To state this same ...
Page 4
... individual men , women and children , as members of families and society , help foster that sense of who they are and of their purpose in the world . Here identity and destiny become intimately combined . Historians have done much to ...
... individual men , women and children , as members of families and society , help foster that sense of who they are and of their purpose in the world . Here identity and destiny become intimately combined . Historians have done much to ...
Page 5
... individuals can think of their own absence from society by pondering the death and removal of others . This is why the ... individual's outlook on life . This book explores the ways people from different countries , times and places have ...
... individuals can think of their own absence from society by pondering the death and removal of others . This is why the ... individual's outlook on life . This book explores the ways people from different countries , times and places have ...
Page 6
... individual continues after death ; even the smell of decay can symbolize the process of transition ( Howes , 1991 : 135ff . ) . Sharp contrasts are drawn between the physical body and some other sort of dynamic element which may be ...
... individual continues after death ; even the smell of decay can symbolize the process of transition ( Howes , 1991 : 135ff . ) . Sharp contrasts are drawn between the physical body and some other sort of dynamic element which may be ...
Page 7
... individual . Funerary rites and the language of death thus mark the divide between the paradox of social eternity and physical mortality . In this , funerals symbolize society . It is this kind of argument which will be used to ...
... individual . Funerary rites and the language of death thus mark the divide between the paradox of social eternity and physical mortality . In this , funerals symbolize society . It is this kind of argument which will be used to ...
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 |
Other editions - View all
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