The Routledge Companion to Death and Dying

610 Pages·2018·1.964 MB·English

by  Christopher M. Moreman

THE ROUTLEDGE COMPANION
TO DEATH AND DYING
Few issues apply universally to people as poignantly as death and dying. All religions
address concerns with death from the handling of human remains, to defi ning death,
to suggesting what happens after life. The Routledge Companion to Death and Dying
provides readers with an overview of the study of death and dying. Questions of death,
mortality, and more recently of end-of-life care, have long been important ones, and
scholars from a range of fi elds have approached the topic in a number of ways. Compris-
ing over fi fty-two chapters from a team of international contributors, the companion
covers:
• funerary and mourning practices;
• concepts of the afterlife;
• psychical issues associated with death and dying;
• clinical and ethical issues;
• philosophical issues;
• death and dying as represented in popular culture.
T his comprehensive collection of essays will bring together perspectives from fi elds as
diverse as history, philosophy, literature, psychology, archaeology, and religious stud-
ies, while including various religious traditions, including established religions like
Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism as well as new or less widely
known traditions such as the Spiritualist Movement, the Church of Latter Day Saints,
and Raëlianism. The Routledge Companion to Death and Dying is essential reading for
students and researchers in religious studies, philosophy, and literature.
Christopher M. Moreman is Associate Professor and Department Chair of Philosophy
and Religious Studies at California State University, East Bay, USA.
ROUTLEDGE RELIGION COMPANIONS
Available
The Routledge Companion to the The Routledge Companion to Religion
Study of Religion, 2nd Edition and Science
Edited by John Hinnells Edited by James W. Haag, Gregory R.
Peterson, and Michael L. Spezio
The Routledge Companion to Early
Christian Thought The Routledge Companion to Religion
Edited by D. Jeffrey Bingham and Popular Culture
Edited by John C. Lyden and
The Routledge Companion to the Eric M. Mazur
Christian Church
Edited by Gerard Mannion and The Routledge Companion to the
Lewis S. Mudge Practice of Christian Theology
Edited by Mike Higton and Jim Fodor
The Routledge Companion to Religion
and Film The Routledge Companion to
Edited by John Lyden Christianity in Africa
Edited by Elias Bongmba
The Routledge Companion to Theism
Edited by Charles Taliaferro, Victoria S. The Routledge Companion to Death
Harrison, and Stewart Goetz and Dying
Edited by Christopher Moreman
The Routledge Companion to Modern
Christian Thought
Edited by Chad Meister and James Beilby
Forthcoming
The Routledge Companion to the
Qur’an
Edited by Daniel A. Madigan and
Maria M. Dakake
THE ROUTLEDGE COMPANION
TO DEATH AND DYING
Edited by
Christopher M. Moreman
First published 2018
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2018 selection and editorial matter, Christopher M. Moreman; individual chapters, the
contributors
The right of Christopher M. Moreman to be identifi ed as the author of the editorial
material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance
with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any
form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks,
and are used only for identifi cation and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this title has been requested
ISBN: 978-1-138-85207-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-72374-7 (ebk)
Typeset in Goudy
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
In memoriam
Stuart D. B. Picken
CONTENTS
List of contributors xi
Introduction 1
CHRISTOPHER M. MOREMAN
PART 1
Religious approaches to death and afterlife 3
1 Catholic views of the afterlife 5
DIANA WALSH PASULKA
2 Protestant views of the afterlife 14
MARK S. SWEETNAM
3 Mormon afterlife beliefs and funerary practices 25
DANIEL BELNAP
4 Christian funerary traditions 35
THOMAS G. LONG
5 Jewish views of the afterlife 45
DAN COHN-SHERBOK
6 Jewish funeral and mourning practices 55
VANESSA L. OCHS
7 Muslim views of the afterlife 66
DAVID COOK
8 Funerary culture in Islam 74
AMILA BUTUROVIC
9 Zoroastrian afterlife beliefs and funerary practices 86
ALMUT HINTZE
vii
CONTENTS
10 Sikh afterlife beliefs and funerary practices 98
ARVIND-PAL S. MANDAIR
11 Hindu afterlife beliefs and funerary practice 110
T. S. RUKMANI
12 Jaina afterlife beliefs and funerary practices 119
PETER FLÜGEL
13 Theravāda Buddhist afterlife beliefs and funerary practices 133
RACHELLE M. SCOTT
14 Tibetan Buddhist afterlife beliefs and funerary practices 143
MATTHEW T. KAPSTEIN
15 Shinto and death: From cultural roots to contemporary thought 153
STUART D. B. PICKEN
16 Early Chinese afterlife beliefs and funerary practices 163
MU-CHOU POO
17 Contemporary Daoist afterlife beliefs and funerary practices 173
ADELINE HERROU
18 North American indigenous afterlife beliefs 184
JOSEPH A. P. WILSON
19 African afterlife beliefs 194
ZAYIN CABOT
20 Overcoming death in new religious movements 206
SUSAN J. PALMER
21 Afterlife beliefs in the Spiritualist movement 218
WALTER MEYER ZU ERPEN
22 Death and the afterlife in the Raëlian religion 230
ERIK A. W. ÖSTLING & JAMES R. LEWIS
PART 2
General beliefs and practices 243
23 Heavens and hells 245
EILEEN GARDINER
24 Reincarnation 256
JAMES A. SANTUCCI
25 Mysticism 267
THOMAS QUARTIER
viii
CONTENTS
26 The American cemetery 277
ALBERT N. HAMSCHER
27 Cremation 287
DOUGLAS J. DAVIES
28 Mummification 295
HEATHER GILL-FRERKING
29 Digital memorials 307
CANDI K. CANN
PART 3
Liminal states and liminal beings 317
30 Near-death experiences 319
GREGORY SHUSHAN
31 Past-life memories 333
JIM B. TUCKER
32 Ghosts 343
OWEN DAVIES
33 Angels 352
JOHN CHARLES ARNOLD & TONY WALTER
34 The undead: Vampires and zombies 362
JOHN EDGAR BROWNING
35 Animals 371
BARBARA R. AMBROS & LAURA HOBGOOD
36 The talking dead in organ donation and spirit possession 385
LESLEY A. SHARP
PART 4
On dying 397
37 Defining death 399
JAMES L. BERNAT
38 The Death Awareness Movement 411
LUCY BREGMAN
39 Conceptual approaches to understanding the dying process 420
KENNETH J. DOKA
ix
CONTENTS
40 The cross-cultural study of grief 432
DENNIS KLASS
41 A “good death” in hospice palliative care 442
HAROLD COWARD & ELIZABETH CAUSTON
42 Assisted Dying 455
PAUL BADHAM
PART 5
Additional ethical considerations 465
43 Suicide: Psychopathology, existential choice, or religious/cultural influences 467
MARK M. LEACH & FREDERICK T. L. LEONG
44 Martyrdom 477
PAUL MIDDLETON
45 The psychology of mass murder and serial killing 490
KATHERINE RAMSLAND
46 Abortion 501
DANIEL C. MAGUIRE
47 Intellectual disability and the end of life 511
LAURA A. KICKLIGHTER
48 Epidemic 521
JOSEPH P. BYRNE
PART 6
Additional scholarly perspectives 531
49 Philosophical perspectives 533
STEVEN LUPER
50 Anthropology and death 543
DOUGLAS J. DAVIES
51 Mortuary archaeology 548
ZOË CROSSLAND & J. SUZI WILSON
52 Death in Western art and literature 558
CHRISTINA STAUDT
Index 571
x
CONTRIBUTORS
Barbara R. Ambros is a Professor in Religious Studies at the University of North
Carolina, Chapel Hill. Recent publications include Bones of Contention: Animals
and Religion in Contemporary Japan (University of Hawaii Press, 2012) and W omen
in Japanese Religions (New York University Press, 2015). She currently co-chairs the
Animals and Religion Group of the American Academy of Religion.
John Charles Arnold is an Associate Professor of History at the State University of
New York at Fredonia. His research on angel veneration in medieval Christianity
has resulted in the monograph T he Footprints of Michael the Archangel: The Formation
and Diffusion of a saintly Cult c. 300-c. 800 (Palgrave, 2013).
Rev. Dr. Paul Badham is Emeritus Professor of Theology at the University of Wales,
Trinity Saint David. He is a Patron of Dignity in Dying, a Vice-President of Modern
Church, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine.
Daniel Belnap is Associate Professor of Ancient Scripture at Brigham Young Uni-
versity. Recent books include F illets of Fatling and Goblets of God: The Use of Meal
Events in the Ritual Imagery in the Ugaritic Mythological and Epic Texts (Gorgias, 2008)
and By Our Rites of Worship: Latter-Day Saint Views on Ritual in Scripture, History,
and Practice (Deseret, 2014).
James L. Bernat, M.D., is the Louis and Ruth Frank Professor of Neuroscience and Pro-
fessor of Neurology and Medicine at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth,
and is a neurologist at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.
Lucy Bregman is Professor of Religion at Temple University, Philadelphia, PA. She is
the author of B eyond Silence and Denial: Death and Dying Reconsidered and several
other books on the meanings of death and religion in contemporary America.
John Edgar Browning is a Marion L. Brittain Postdoctoral Fellow at the Georgia Insti-
tute of Technology. His research focuses on horror and vampire scholarship, with
over fi fteen published or forthcoming books as well as over sixty-fi ve published or
forthcoming shorter works.
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