Death, Ritual, and Belief: The Rhetoric of Funerary Rites

by Douglas J. Davies

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.

Genres: Nonfiction, Religion, History

272 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1997

About the author

Douglas James Davies

Reviews

[Allison Danger · Rating 3 out of 5]

A juggernaut of death studies academia. Although I feel like some of the information is dated and from a specifically western male point of view, the theory of "words against death" is an interesting thesis.

[oldb1rd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Есть интересные мысли, но целостной, последовательной композиции автору добиться не удалось. Там-сям, туда-сюда. Получилось, как в альманахе «Вокруг света», только по верхам «Вокруг смерти».

[Geof Sage · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75 rounded down; a pretty good phenomenological survey of death both historically and into modern times. just nothing capital-S Special about it