Preaching Death: The Transformation of Christian Funeral Sermons

254 Pages·2011·0.83 MB·English

by  Lucy Bregman

“Bregman has once again brought her experience to bear upon the
weighty topic of death, dying, and the afterlife. Clear, concise, and
accessibly written, this book will doubtless be of interest to a wide
audience.”
—Christopher M. MoreMan, Assistant Professor of
Philosophy, California State University, East Bay
This page intentionally left blank
Preaching Death
The Transformation of Christian Funeral Sermons
—Lucy Bregman—
Baylor University Press
© 2011 by Baylor University Press
Waco, Texas 76798-7363
All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without
the prior permission in writing of Baylor University Press.
Cover Design by Nicole Weaver, Zeal Design
Cover Image © iStockphoto.com / Frank Vinken
eISBN: 978-1-60258-424-2 (e-PDF)
This E-book was converted from the original source file by a third-party
vendor. Readers who encounter any issues with formatting, text, linking,
or readability are encouraged to notify the publisher at BUP_Produc-
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments vi
Part I
What Christians Used to Say about Death
1 A Changeover of Messages and Images 3
2 What Is a Christian Funeral? 17
3 Funeral Theologies of Death 31
4 Heaven as Home 47
5 Heaven as Journey 61
6 Natural Immortality 75
7 The Lord’s Will 89
Part II
The Age of Silence and Denial
8 “Please Omit Funeral” 107
9 The Challenge of New Theologies 119
10 Death as Enemy 133
Part III
What Came Next
11 New Words for Death, Dying, and Grief 151
12 The Triumph of the Biographical 167
v
vi Table of Contents
Part IV
What Might Have Been
13 Two Alternatives 183
14 What Might Have Been—Lament 197
15 The Eclipse of Poetry 211
Part V
Conclusion
16 What Christians No Longer Want to Say about Death 227
Bibliography 239
Index 247
Acknowledgments
his book’s themes took shape gradually. I am indebted to the Col-
Tlegeville Institute, where I was a resident scholar back in 2000–
2001, and to the following individuals: Judith Buck-Glenn; Al Dueck;
Dennis Klass; Thomas Long, Chris Moreman, and the Death, Dying
and Beyond Consultation; Greg Schneider; Gerard S. Sloyan; Virginia
Sloyan; and the family of the late Sara Thiermann (“Gigi”).
I am also indebted to the staff at the Lutheran Theological Semi-
nary of Philadelphia, colleagues and students at the Temple University
Religion Department, and fellow parishioners of St. Stephen’s Church,
Norwood, Pennsylvania.
Some of this material has been presented at meetings of the Associa-
tion for Death Education and Counseling and the American Academy of
Religion. All of the quotations from the Bible are taken from the New
International Version (NIV) unless otherwise indicated.
vii
This page intentionally left blank
1
A Changeover of Messages
and Images
Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resur-
rection at the last day.”
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He
who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever
lives and believes in me will never die.”
—John 11:24-26
hristians have been fascinated with death, with imagery and ideas
Csurrounding it, since the time when Jesus taught, suffered, and died.
The enigmatic pairing of resurrection and life, with death and in opposi-
tion to death, has been intrinsic to Christian faith from the beginning. All
die, or “never die,” or both. Yet this does not mean that Christians have
simply echoed an eternal unchanging message, nor that one era’s words
have or will suffice for the next. Sometimes the changeover from one
set of images and ideas is slow, while more recently it was abrupt. Yet
the shift, however real and dramatic, has gone almost unnoticed. That
changeover is the subject of this book: what Christians not very long ago
used to say about death, and what they stopped saying, and what they
say now. Also, to complete the story, what they might have said at the
time of transition, but did not.
3