How do we make sense of death--in theology, in philosophy, in experience? How do religions other than Christianity deal with death and with dying? In the now predominantly secular societies of the West, what are we to make of the theologies of death developed by writers such as Becker, Hick, Thielicke, and Macquarrie? Ray Anderson tackles his subject with clarity and without sentimentality. He discusses first the treatment--and indeed, the denial--of death by contemporary Western society, and its place in other religious traditions. Going on to discuss the origins of a Christian theology of death, he examines the legacy of Judaism and seeks to lay the foundations for a Christian anthropology in the unity of the body and soul. Death, he argues, is alien to God's determination of our personhood. Outlining a classic Christian understanding of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, he explores the implications of the Passion for our own mortality. Even if the sting of death has been removed, the experience of dying and bereavement remains. Ray Anderson considers pastoral approaches to dying in the light of his observations and arguments and makes his case for a reintegration of the experience of dying into our communities.

A wide-ranging anthology for general readers covering many religious, ethical, and spiritual aspects of death, dying, and bereavement in American society. What do various spiritual and ethical belief systems have to say about modern medicine's approach to the end of life? Do all major religions characterize the afterlife in similar ways? How do funeral rites and rituals vary across different faiths? Now there is one resource that gathers leading scholars to address these questions and more about the many religious, ethical, and spiritual aspects of death, dying, and bereavement in America. Religion, Death, and Dying compares and contrasts the ways different faiths and ethical schools contemplate the end of life. The work is organized into three thematic volumes: first, an examination of the contemporary medicalized death from the perspective of different religious traditions and the professions involved; second, an exploration of complex, often controversial issues, including the death of children, AIDS, capital punishment, and war; and finally, a survey of the funeral and bereavement rituals that have evolved under various religions.

Death and Religion: The Basics provides a thorough and accessible introduction to dying, death, grief, and conceptions of the afterlife in world religions. It leads readers through considerations of how we understand meanings of death and after-death, and the theories and practices attached to these states of being, with recourse to various religious worldviews: Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Chinese Religions, and Native American belief systems. This inter-religious approach provides a rich, dynamic survey of varying and evolving cultural attitudes to death. Topics covered include: Religious perspectives of "the good death" Grief, bereavement, and mourning Stages and definitions of death Burial, cremation, and disposition Remembrance rituals Religious theories of the afterlife Death and technology Featuring a glossary, suggestions for further reading in each chapter and key terms, this is the ideal text for students approaching the intersection of death and religion for the first time, and those in the fields of religious studies, thanatology, anthropology, philosophy, and sociology.

Death and Religion in a Changing World is a comprehensive and accessible study of the intersection of death and religion, examining how everyday people enact religious responses to death in the twenty-first century. With contributions from leading religious studies scholars, this book moves away from the field’s focus on traditional beliefs to explore how religious traditions evolve in relation to their changing social contexts. Employing an ethnographic approach, Death and Religion in a Changing World further details how people from a wide variety of religious traditions and people without religious affiliation draw on and adapt religious practices as they respond to death in modern societies. Every chapter in this second edition has been thoroughly updated and new chapters on the ethical issues of dying, including life-prolonging medical treatments, palliative care, physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia, and the modern hospice movement have been added. This book also covers emerging social and religious phenomena, such as public shrines, the Covid-19 pandemic, funeral celebrants, death with dignity, spiritual bereavement groups, and online funeral practices. This cutting-edge work is essential reading for students and scholars of religion who are approaching the subjects of death and religion, and ritual studies.

The first part of the book is grounded in biblical issues and in historical and philosophical theology. It seeks to establish several schemes of death theology related, for example, to early Christianity's Jewish cultural milieu, to belief in Christ's resurrection and to Christology, to issues of millennial belief and to an emergent liturgical practice. The rise of notions of the soul in relation to medieval thought and practice and the place of death in reformation theology are both covered, as is the role of the nineteenth and twentieth century. Finally the rise of biblical theology is considered, especially in the twentieth century. The second part of the book takes up several contemporary models of the theology of death. The first pursues a traditional acceptance of an other-worldly afterlife, the second explores worldly analysis of eternal life as a quality of contemporary existence devoid of any future state. The third develops the worldly model and considers a wider sense of self as a part of an ecological view of the world as a divine creation and explores the meaning of birth-life and death amidst a divine environment. The Theology of Death aims to offer some sharply defined schemes to focus thought in a Christian environment in which death, hell and heaven have almost lost their place. The topic of hope is a key element and the book explores the birth and fostering of hope within Christian traditions.

Based on a content analysis of writing assignments from a class on death and dying, this book focuses on the manner in which college students use religion to make sense of death and the dying process. Drawing on research spanning five years, the author considers the attitudes, concerns, and beliefs about death, exploring students’ perspectives on the place of religion in end-of-life issues. With attention to questions related to death anxiety, suicide, mass homicide, and the death of young children, the author examines the ways in which students draw on religion to make sense of death, religion’s function as both a source of comfort and empowerment and a source of distress, as well as the perceptions of those who resist religion. As such, Religion, Life, and Death will appeal to social scientists with interests in the sociology of young adults, and the sociology and psychology of religion, death, and dying.

"Does theology have any relevance to the problem of life and death?" According to John Heywood Thomas the answer is an unequivocal yes. A largely personal expression of this conviction precedes the argument's exposition, which is then stated first of all quite generally--that nothing human is alien to theology's concern. Three main issues are considered: the unborn life, death as an event in life, and the possibility of global death. The issue of a life before birth is a complex problem, requiring an awareness of philosophical issues as of the empirical factors. The same kind of multifaceted thinking is needed in confronting the issue of death, an inescapable topic for theology. If death is an event in life what does it reveal about the meaning of life? And what of the very human action of the funeral? After a discussion of the complex issues involved the argument returns to the global reference of theology. Two areas of concern are singled out to show that the theologian can offer guidance in debate: the environmental crisis and the threat of nuclear war.

Through the Valley of the Shadow of Death is a dramatic and sustained response to decades of research into near-death experiences (NDEs) - the first to credibly bridge the gap between the competing factions of science and spirituality.