Death, Ritual, and Belief The Rhetoric of Funerary Rites

by Davies, Douglas J.

• ISBN13: 9780826454836
• ISBN10: 0826454836
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-04-30
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic

Summary

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.

Author Biography

Douglas Davies is Professor in the Study of Religion at the University of Durham. His numerous books on death and other aspects of Religious Studies reflect his skills as both an anthropologist of religion and a theologian

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	p. vi
Preface to Second Edition	p. vii
Introduction	p. viii
Interpreting Death Rites	p. 1
Coping with Corpses: Impurity, Fertility and Fear	p. 24
Theories of Grief	p. 43
Violence, Sacrifice and Conquest	p. 62
Eastern Destiny and Death	p. 81
Ancestors, Cemeteries and Local Identity	p. 91
Jewish and Islamic Destinies	p. 118
Christianity and the Death of Jesus	p. 125
Near-Death, Symbolic Death and Rebirth	p. 145
Somewhere to Die	p. 155
Souls and the Presence of the Dead	p. 163
Pet and Animal Death	p. 182
Book, Film and Building	p. 196
Offending Death, Grief and Religions	p. 211
Secular Death and Life	p. 224
Bibliography	p. 240
Index	p. 258
Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved.