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. |
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Page 2
... 1923 ) , including the stories that evoke the identity of the dead as told by family and friends and reflected , for example , in Ned Sherrin's anthology of readings , prayers and music for memorial services 2 Death , Ritual and Belief.
... 1923 ) , including the stories that evoke the identity of the dead as told by family and friends and reflected , for example , in Ned Sherrin's anthology of readings , prayers and music for memorial services 2 Death , Ritual and Belief.
Page 5
... reflects , too much , a particular preoccupation with categorizing things in pairs , something not all societies do ( Needham , 1980 : 41ff . ) . Rather , I see death rites as an inevitable consequence of human self - awareness and ...
... reflects , too much , a particular preoccupation with categorizing things in pairs , something not all societies do ( Needham , 1980 : 41ff . ) . Rather , I see death rites as an inevitable consequence of human self - awareness and ...
Page 8
... reflect the life of the dead . Philosophers and Christian theologians have made much of the special nature of religious language in general ( Ramsey , 1957 ) , have shown how language operates both within liturgy and in secular contexts ...
... reflect the life of the dead . Philosophers and Christian theologians have made much of the special nature of religious language in general ( Ramsey , 1957 ) , have shown how language operates both within liturgy and in secular contexts ...
Page 11
... individuals . In Mary Douglas's argument , the kind of control a society exerted over its members was expressed and reflected in the way individuals controlled their own bodies ( 1966 , 1970 ) 11 Interpreting Death Rites.
... individuals . In Mary Douglas's argument , the kind of control a society exerted over its members was expressed and reflected in the way individuals controlled their own bodies ( 1966 , 1970 ) 11 Interpreting Death Rites.
Page 12
... reflected in their dress , hair - style and demeanour . Where control is lax or hardly existent the individual reflects this in personal free expression of dress , hair and general behaviour . Within social life itself the body tends to ...
... reflected in their dress , hair - style and demeanour . Where control is lax or hardly existent the individual reflects this in personal free expression of dress , hair and general behaviour . Within social life itself the body tends 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 |
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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