"Professor Douglas Davies' perceptive and thought-provoking book... provides a rich framework in which to consider the perennial questions of the human response to death. From this book, the fruit of wide-ranging research and reading, it is clear that Professor Davies has established himself as one of the leading writers in an increasingly important field." --Geoffrey Rowell, The Tablet

"This updated and much enlarged book contains fascinating information and discussion about the many, varied issues nestling under the heading of 'death studies'. It would make an excellent textbook." --Modern Believing, July 2003

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.
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Describing a great variety of funeral rituals 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 growth of afterlife beliefs.
Read more
Symbols, death and dying; rituals and corpses; soul, ethics and destiny; ancestors and identity; ghosts, purity and the influential dead; theories of grief; memorials; sacrifice, violence and conquest; the death of Jesus and Christianity; death, grief and the birth of religions.
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Product details

ISBN
9780826454843
Published
2002-06-01
Edition
2. edition
Publisher
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Weight
424 gr
Height
234 mm
Width
156 mm
Age
UU, UP, P, 05, 06
Language
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Heftet
Number of pages
272

Biographical note

Douglas J. Davies is Professor in the Study of Religion and Director of the Centre for Death and Life Studies at Durham University, UK. He is the author of Natural Burial (2012), The Theology of Death (2008) and A Brief History of Death (2004). He is also the editor, along with Lewis Mates, of The Encyclopedia of Cremation (2005). Professor Davies is a Fellow of the British Academy, as well as a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and of the Learned Society of Wales.