A Brief History of Death

by Davies, Douglas

• ISBN13: 9781405101837
• ISBN10: 1405101830
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-01-14
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

The act of death itself and the rituals surrounding it vary enormously and shed a fascinating light on the cultures of which they are a part. In this brief and lively history, Douglas Davies - internationally acknowledged as one of the leading experts in this field - tackles some of the most significant aspects of death and weaves them into a compelling story about our changing attitudes to dying. Offers a fascinating examination of this subject which is of enduring interest in every culture in the world Considers the profound influence death has had on subjects ranging from philosophy to anthropology, through to art, literature, and music - inspiring some of our most enduring artistic highpoints Broaches some of the most significant aspects of death, such as the act of dying, grieving, burial, artistic interpretations of death, places of memory, the fear of death, and disasters/tragedies Weaves these numerous approaches to death into a compelling story about our changing attitudes to dying Contains several illustrations, and is written in an accessible and lively style.

Author Biography

Douglas J. Davies is a Professor in the Department of Theology at Durham University. He is widely acknowledged as one of the world's leading experts in the history, theology and sociology of death. His books include: Anthropology and Theology (2002); Death, Ritual and Belief, Second edition (2001); Themes and Issues in Christianity (1998); Transforming Mormon Identities (1998); Reusing Old Graves (1995); and Church and Religion in Rural England (1991). He has also published a large number of articles on death, and contemporary Christianity.

Table of Contents

List of plates (plates fall between pp. 88 and 89)	ix
Preface	x
1 Journey Beyond	1	(23)
Gilgamesh	2	(2)
Adam and Eve	4	(2)
Death, Sin and Atonement	6	(1)
Resurrection-Transcendence	6	(2)
Release-Transcendence	8	(1)
Self-Transcendence	8	(2)
Hope and Faith	10	(3)
To Be or Not To Be	13	(1)
Traditional Futures	14	(1)
The Uneasy Species	14	(1)
Death Our Future	15	(1)
Autobiographical History of Death	15	(2)
Methods of Approach	17	(3)
Words Against Death	20	(1)
Myth Again	20	(4)
2 Parting's Sweet Sorrow	24	(24)
Relationships, Death and Destiny	25	(2)
Family Bonds	27	(1)
Hell, Life and Work	28	(1)
Secular Ethics and Loss	29	(1)
Freud and Bowlby	30	(1)
Grief-Stages	31	(1)
Fixing the Unfixable	32	(1)
Helplessness	33	(1)
Aberbach and Charisma	33	(1)
World Religions	34	(2)
Identity and Religions	36	(2)
Identity's Demise and Death	38	(1)
Adulthood-Childhood, Maturity and Death of Parents	39	(4)
Moral-Somatic Links	43	(1)
Spiritualism	44	(3)
Departure	47	(1)
3 Removing the Dead	48	(20)
Souls	50	(1)
Status and Destiny	51	(1)
Ritual Change	52	(2)
Resurrection	54	(2)
Secular Trends	56	(1)
Changing Times	57	(1)
Default Religion	57	(3)
From Respect to Dignity	60	(2)
Death-Style and Belief	62	(1)
Cremated Remains	62	(4)
Space, Cryogenics and Computers	66	(2)
4 Ecology, Death and Hope	68	(21)
Criminals, Heretics, Bodies and Belief	68	(2)
Dying at Home	70	(1)
Hospice	71	(2)
Symbolic Bodies	73	(2)
American Ways of Death	75	(2)
Ecology	77	(1)
Hope Springs Eternal	78	(3)
Forest	81	(1)
Positive and Negative Dust	82	(2)
Ethics and Spirituality at Large	84	(1)
Death's Paradigm Shift	85	(1)
Ecological Immortality	86	(3)
5 Art, Literature and Music	89	(22)
Variety	90	(1)
Bible	91	(2)
Dante	93	(1)
Milton	94	(2)
Secular Strains	96	(2)
Art	98	(3)
Portraying the Dead	101	(4)
Religious Fusion	105	(5)
Hope	110	(1)
6 Places of Memory	111	(20)
Myth	111	(3)
The Dynamics of Memorial Sites	114	(1)
Locating Hope: the Dynamics of Memorial Sites	115	(1)
Place and Hope	116	(1)
How to Speak of the Dead?	117	(1)
Location 1: Graveyard and Cemetery	118	(1)
Hope 1: Eternal, Eschatological Form of Identity	118	(2)
Location 2: Cremation and Remains	120	(2)
Hope 2: Internal, the Retrospective Fulfilment of Identity	122	(3)
Location 3: Woodland Burial	125	(1)
Hope 3: Natural, the Ecological Fulfilment of Identity	126	(1)
Memorial Texts	127	(1)
The National Memorial Arboretum	128	(1)
Lifestyle - Death-Style	129	(2)
7 Fear of Death	131	(19)
A Mythical Form	132	(1)
Hinduism, Buddhism	132	(1)
Christianity	133	(1)
Albert Schweitzer and C.S. Lewis	134	(3)
Essential Fear	137	(1)
Plague	137	(1)
Modern Devastations	138	(2)
Philosophical Fears	140	(2)
Psychology and Fear of Death	142	(1)
Picasso	143	(1)
Fears Real and Imagined	144	(1)
Contemporary Fears	145	(1)
Imaginative Fears	146	(1)
Fear Abolished	147	(3)
8 Purposeful and Useless Death	150	(24)
Power of Death	152	(1)
Warfare	152	(2)
Genocide	154	(2)
Violence at Heart	156	(1)
Disasters	156	(3)
Baby-Death	159	(1)
Suicide - Euthanasia	160	(2)
Offending Deaths	162	(3)
Illness and Death	165	(1)
The Future of Death	166	(1)
Christian Eternal Life	166	(3)
Death's Margins	169	(1)
Age and Death	169	(1)
Hopeless Non-Places	170	(1)
2020 Time and Vision	171	(1)
The World's Death	172	(2)
Bibliography	174	(6)
Index	180