The Meanings of Death

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.

John Bowker (Author)

9780521447737, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 26 March 1993

260 pages
20.2 x 15.6 x 1.8 cm, 0.34 kg

'This is a very thought-provoking book which covers a vast range of data. It will become a set text for students on the Lampeter MA on Death and Immortality, for it is a mine of information and insight.' Paul Badham, University of Wales, Lampeter

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.

Part I. Introduction: 1. Death and the origins of religion
Part II. Religions and the origin of death: 2. Judaism
3. Christianity
4. Islam
5. Hinduism
6. Buddhism
Part III Conclusion
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Religion: general [HRA]