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 67
Page v
... Symbolic Death and Rebirth 145 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 ...
... Symbolic Death and Rebirth 145 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 ...
Page 7
... symbolic terms words represent the ongoing and positive nature of human identity , and of society as the cradle of identity , while corpses represent the negative domain of physical existence which is short- lived in each individual ...
... symbolic terms words represent the ongoing and positive nature of human identity , and of society as the cradle of identity , while corpses represent the negative domain of physical existence which is short- lived in each individual ...
Page 11
... symbolic knowledge on the other , we could say that encyclopaedic knowledge is learnt while symbolic knowledge is acquired ( 1975 ) . Some scholars see this sort of distinction as expressing the way the brain operates through its two ...
... symbolic knowledge on the other , we could say that encyclopaedic knowledge is learnt while symbolic knowledge is acquired ( 1975 ) . Some scholars see this sort of distinction as expressing the way the brain operates through its two ...
Page 12
... symbolic people , like monarchs or arch- bishops , cannot simply put on and put off their symbols of office , because their very body becomes the symbol . Their body and its behaviour is a microcosm of the whole world they represent ...
... symbolic people , like monarchs or arch- bishops , cannot simply put on and put off their symbols of office , because their very body becomes the symbol . Their body and its behaviour is a microcosm of the whole world they represent ...
Page 14
... Symbolically speaking this clarifies what , earlier , we called the death of a microcosm . Insofar as the body represents society , and as such is an important symbolic entity , the death of the body might be thought to devalue that ...
... Symbolically speaking this clarifies what , earlier , we called the death of a microcosm . Insofar as the body represents society , and as such is an important symbolic entity , the death of the body might be thought to devalue that ...
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