DEAD-SURVIVORS, THE LIVING DEAD, AND CONCEPTS OF DEATH

2022

A wide-ranging treatment on the meaning of death, and its juxtaposition with life, from biological, cultural, and spiritual perspectives. Dozens of case studies accompany the principal essays written by scholars, Indigenous community members, and curators of the exhibition Death: Life’s Greatest Mystery. This volume offers a richly illustrated companion to the exhibition, produced by Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History, and contains full page photographs of the stunning objects in the exhibit, most from the Field Museum’s collections. This volume is intended to engage visitors to the exhibition and members of the general public who want to delve more fully into questions surrounding death and the multiple religious, historical, and cultural perspectives on it. Although not a comprehensive guide, the book touches on many world religions and case studies drawn from five continents.

This study is a metaphysical inquiry into the phenomenon of death in Esan culture. It begins by expositing the Esan understanding of death and how it constitutes mystery. It argues that in Esan, the question of 'the why of death'just like 'the why of life' and 'the why of birth', philosophically speaking, does not admit any satisfactorily answer. Thereafter, the study discussed the Esanconception of the causes of death. It examined the epistemological and logical status of some of these causal beliefs among the Esan people and with reference to some other cultures. It argues that although some claims to afterlife seem rational and convincing; any claim to knowledge of absolute certainty of the hereafter is epistemologically suspicious since there is no valid epistemic intersection of this world and the assumed world after. Although the Esan do not conceive any contradiction in their beliefs in afterlife and reincarnation, but logically speaking, such belief suffers logical infelicity since it defies the logical laws of thought. However, the study also argues that just like any affirmation, any denial of certain knowledge of afterlife experience conversely rests on logical fallacy of 'argumentum ad ignorantiam'. It concludes that death and the belief in life after death have practical moral implications on the living. In the course of inquiry, the engagement attempts simultaneously, an

Folklorists and theologians have maintained an interest in the cultural and theological aspects of death and burial-funeral customs; popular beliefs about death, dying and the afterlife; the folklore of forewarnings of death; and so on. Death is not only a natural reality but also a social and cultural fact. As one of the most important events of the life, a great number of beliefs, customs, tradition, ceremonies, rites, pattern behaviors, transactions have been grouped around death. The forms and contents of these beliefs, customs, tradition, ceremonies, rites, pattern behaviors connected with death may differ in terms of time, society and culture. Turkey has very rich folkloric traditions, which have been kept alive for centuries. There is a special place of the folkloric traditions connected with death in Turkish culture. Such beliefs, customs, transactions, ceremonies and pattern behaviors, which accumulated around the death, are categorized under three groups: pre-death, during death and after death. Most of Turkish people are Muslims. Their folkloric traditions are impressed by Islamic values. But, in fact, Turkish death traditions are composition of pre-Islamic customs, Islamic principles and other traditions. In this article, we discuss the comprehension of the Muslim Turkish people about the death as a physical and spiritual matter. They mirrored the understanding of death in the decease customs. But, on the other hand, like other traditions, death customs are affected by globalization.

2012

This study tried to investigate if intuitive ideas about the continuation of the Self after death determine the way people represent the state of being dead, and, in this way, investigate possible psychological origins of afterlife beliefs, which constitute a recurrent cultural phenomenon. A semi-structured interview and a self-report questionnaire were used to obtain information on the experience of imagining oneself as dead and the representation of the dead-I of young adults. The results suggest that (1) there is a tendency to imagine the state of being dead as a continuation of the I, even in the absence of explicit afterlife beliefs; (2) perceptual, emotional, epistemic and desire experiences are associated to the dead-I; (3) the representation of the dead-I seems to be determined by an interaction between cognitive processes related to self-awareness and theory of mind, and the cultural afterlife beliefs explicitly learned. A previous alternative hypothesis, suggesting that simulation constraints were responsible for the emergence of non-reflective afterlife concepts is not completely supported by our results. The data presented here suggest that immortality of the soul might be an intuitive religious concept, connected to the experience of the Self and to the implicit theorization that the experienced Self is independent from the body. Future studies should focus on the collection of cross-cultural and developmental data.

Modern Theology, 1997

Hardly any other moment in life besides death provides a subject for theological reflection that brings to such clear focus the precise force of a theologian's anthropological proposals. This essay addresses certain issues in theological anthropology, both material and formal issues. It focuses the issues by seeing what can be gleaned from comparing two mid-20th century theologies of death: Why select death as the lens through which the issues are brought to focus? It is because death focuses attention on the interconnections among three major ways in which Christianity has traditionally said human persons are related to God: the relation of creature to creator, the relation of redeemed to redeemer, and the relation of glorified to consummator. Each relation is constituted by God actively relating to us on God's own initiative. The dynamic character of these "relations", God's active relating, is crucial in Christian belief. For that reason, I shall generally write of "God creating", "redeeming" and "consummating" us rather than write more abstractly of God's "creation-relation" or "redemption-relation" or "consummationrelation" to us.

2012

I would like to thank Rebecca Wilson Taylor for sharing with me so much of her time and immense knowledge. My sincerest gratitude goes to Dr. Lee Meadows Jantz for allowing me to conduct this research and for always being so helpful, kind, and welcoming-even if you are intimidating! Finally, I would like to thank my partner, George, for his advice, encouragement, patience, and support. Thank you for trying to be quiet, taking care of all of the domestic duties, buying me potato chips, and making me laugh.

James Patrick Quirke Death and the Persistence of Meaning As a force death is something which is an essential part of life yet we rarely ever come to examine how it plays upon us. Our awareness of our mortality as a fundamental flaw but vital limit upon our existence creates conditions which are taken for granted as part of life. Like gravity death has always been a force for the living to consider so much so that it is equally taken for granted. However as we live the risk of death as well as our awareness and experiences of it still demonstratively affect us. Of these, direct experiences of death most visibly and profoundly confront us in life. When loved ones die it throws up a progeny of emotion and thought which no other situation compares to. Here I examine our reactions to personal loss and try to show how we possibly shelter and protect ourselves from existential concerns and considerations which death provokes. Religion in particular is examined as system of meaning which we turn to in order to ease our anxieties and concerns regarding death and broader meaning in life. Age is also considered as a factor in terms of possible increased planning and preparation for death in both practical and spiritual terms.

Islam and Christian - Muslim Relations, 2007

In an age in which vast progress has been made in organ transplant technology, it isimperative to determine the point at which a human being is considered dead, for transplantationcannot occur until after death. Traditional religious views imply that a human being is dead uponthe departure of the soul from the body. Taking the biological death of the body as a conclusivesign of the soul’s departure is not an option. Biological death refers to decomposition, and thiscannot equate to the death of the person as such, for this would make the concept and practice of transplantation absurd, for transplantable parts of a biologically dead—i.e. decomposing—bodycould not be used. On the other hand, if parts of the human body are themselves still biologicallyalive, could it not be said that taking such parts would amount to murder?Two conclusions follow from this predicament. First, death as a ‘normative’ concept stands insharp distinction from a purely biological concept. Second, a normative concept of death isentangled with a normative concept of personhood. That is to say, from the moment that a humanbeing is not considered a person as such, parts of the body could be removed for transplantationor, indeed, for any other justified medical purpose. In this regard, various theories of the personare put forward. Which of these theories is compatible with a workable concept of death? In this paper two principal theories of the person will be discussed and it will be argued that a brain-based theory of death is conducive to a normative concept of death, thus allowing for organtransplantation.

Folklore: Electronic Journal of Folklore, 2002

2006

The dead serve as a constant reminder of our mortality. The corpse exists in a transitional state between personhood and objecthood. Human remains are the ultimate vestiges of a loved one, friend, or neighbour, contrasting sharply with an object that incites horror and revulsion. The cadaver acts as a reminder of the impermanence of human existence and the imperative to address our deep fears around the awareness of our own mortality. Mythical, religious, and folkloric accounts have developed over millennia to elucidate the fate of individuals post-mortem and the rationale behind it. Religious narratives regarding death and the afterlife serve as a power and control mechanism that can either mitigate or evoke further anxiety over our own mortality.

Building Bridges, Dissolving Boundaries: Toward a Methodology for the Ethnographic Study of the Afterlife, Mediumship, and Spiritual Beings Fiona Bowie Journal of the American Academy of Religion 2013; doi: 10.1093/jaarel/lft023, 2013

"The study of death, the afterlife, and related phenomena has long been of interest to anthropologists and religious studies scholars. Although such matters are of central human and cultural concern, Western academic approaches often rely on the juxtaposition between “our” rational and “their” irrational belief systems, and attempt to “explain away” or ignore emic interpretations with a subsequent loss of semantic density. A methodology for studying the afterlife and related phenomena based on cognitive, empathetic engagement involves adopting an emic interpretive lens in order to arrive at a “thick description” that does not shy away from aspects of experience outside the ethnographer's Weltanschauung. A discussion of the implications of adopting a dialogical, participative, open-minded approach to these aspects of human belief and practice are discussed in the context of case studies of spirit possession and reincarnation. © The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press, on behalf of the American Academy of Religion. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: [email protected]"

This study tried to investigate if intuitive ideas about the continuation of the Self after death determine the way people represent the state of being dead, and, in this way, investigate possible psychological origins of afterlife beliefs, which constitute a recurrent cultural phenomenon. A semi-structured interview and a self-report questionnaire were used to obtain information on the experience of imagining oneself as dead and the representation of the dead-I of young adults. The results suggest that (1) there is a tendency to imagine the state of being dead as a continuation of the I, even in the absence of explicit afterlife beliefs; (2) perceptual, emotional, epistemic and desire experiences are associated to the dead-I; (3) the representation of the dead-I seems to be determined by an interaction between cognitive processes related to self-awareness and theory of mind, and the cultural afterlife beliefs explicitly learned. A previous alternative hypothesis, suggesting that simulation constraints were responsible for the emergence of non-reflective afterlife concepts is not completely supported by our results. The data presented here suggest that immortality of the soul might be an intuitive religious concept, connected to the experience of the Self and to the implicit theorization that the experienced Self is independent from the body. Future studies should focus on the collection of cross-cultural and developmental data.