The Meanings of Death

by John Bowker

In The Meanings of Death, John Bowker offers a major contribution to debates about the value of death and its place in both Western and Eastern religions. Examining the themes of friendship and sacrifice in the world's major religions, Bowker argues that there are points of vital contact with secular understandings of death, and that religious and secular attitudes can support and reinforce one another. An affirmative recovery of the value of death is important in our response to bereavement, and in the treatment of the terminally ill. By indicating how value can be maintained at the limit of life, without a search for illusory compensation in an afterlife beyond it, Bowker enriches our experience and understanding of the 'final question' in a way which is always sensitive and often moving.

Genres: Religion, Philosophy, Death

260 pages, Paperback

First published June 28, 1991

Reviews

[Geof Sage · Rating 2 out of 5]

The only chapter I found actually reflective or informative was chapter 6 (Buddhism). Chapter 5 (Hinduism) was especially bad, and there was no consideration beyond the "big five" despite having been written after 1960. Certainly, he could have looked at Sikh traditions or Zoroastrian traditions in context if nothing else.

Also referred back to his own earlier work to an astonishingly self-indulgent degree.