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
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Page 6
... transcendence of death ' as ancestral , experiential , cultural and mythic patterns of transcendence ( 1990 : 14ff . ) . His discussion , along with that of John Bowker ( 1991 ) , furnishes two of the more significant reflections on ...
... transcendence of death ' as ancestral , experiential , cultural and mythic patterns of transcendence ( 1990 : 14ff . ) . His discussion , along with that of John Bowker ( 1991 ) , furnishes two of the more significant reflections on ...
Page 14
... transcending reality . The identity of the body is not extinguished , it is simply transformed and revealed in its new ... transcendence which was , in effect , the human experience of ' society ' . He also focused extensively on the ...
... transcending reality . The identity of the body is not extinguished , it is simply transformed and revealed in its new ... transcendence which was , in effect , the human experience of ' society ' . He also focused extensively on the ...
Page 15
... transcendence which might accompany ritual was directly derived from the effect of group activity . When it came to death rites Durkheim stressed the role of mourning rituals as serving social ends even more than they served the private ...
... transcendence which might accompany ritual was directly derived from the effect of group activity . When it came to death rites Durkheim stressed the role of mourning rituals as serving social ends even more than they served the private ...
Page 19
... transcendent power or dimension . This sensation influences their lives , giving a sense of becoming different people in some way . Once possessing this new sense of power they are impelled to use it to demonstrate that they are now ...
... transcendent power or dimension . This sensation influences their lives , giving a sense of becoming different people in some way . Once possessing this new sense of power they are impelled to use it to demonstrate that they are now ...
Page 22
... transcending fact of life . Accordingly , people may have hope because there actually exists something greater than ... transcendence raised earlier in connection with Durkheim , which is , broadly speaking , linked with my own focus on ...
... transcending fact of life . Accordingly , people may have hope because there actually exists something greater than ... transcendence raised earlier in connection with Durkheim , which is , broadly speaking , linked with my own focus on ...
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