Death, Ritual, and Belief The Rhetoric of Funerary Rites

by Davies, Douglas J.

• ISBN13: 9780826454843
• ISBN10: 0826454844
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• 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	vi
Preface to Second Edition	vii
Introduction	viii
Interpreting Death Rites	1	(23)
Coping with Corpses: Impurity, Fertility and Fear	24	(19)
Theories of Grief	43	(19)
Violence, Sacrifice and Conquest	62	(19)
Eastern Destiny and Death	81	(10)
Ancestors, Cemeteries and Local Identity	91	(27)
Jewish and Islamic Destinies	118	(7)
Christianity and the Death of Jesus	125	(20)
Near-Death, Symbolic Death and Rebirth	145	(10)
Somewhere to Die	155	(8)
Souls and the Presence of the Dead	163	(19)
Pet and Animal Death	182	(14)
Book, Film and Building	196	(15)
Offending Death, Grief and Religions	211	(13)
Secular Death and Life	224	(16)
Bibliography	240	(18)
Index	258