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

Davies, Douglas J.

Abstract

Describing a variety of funeral rituals, from major world religions and from local traditions, this groundbreaking book shows how cultures cope not only with corpses but also create an added value for living through the growth of afterlife beliefs. The key theme of the book is the rhetoric of death - the way cultures use the most potent weapon of words to bring new power and primacy to life. Human identity and its transformation through mortuary rites is explored through the mummies of Chile and Egypt; African sacrificial deaths; Indian cremations; immigrant cemeteries in the USA; ancestor rites in Eastern religions and Mormonism; and the freezing of the dead in cryonics. Research findings are presented on cremation and afterlife beliefs, especially reincarnation, sensing the presence of the dead, and the death of pets in Britain, to show how mortuary rituals are constantly changing in response to death as a major feature of the human environment.

Citation

Davies, D. J. (1997). Death, Ritual, and Belief: The Rhetoric of Funerary Rites. (1). Cassell

• Book Type: Authored Book
• Online Publication Date: Jul 1, 1997
• Publication Date: Jul 1, 1997
• Deposit Date: Jun 2, 2025
• Edition: 1
• ISBN: 978-1441141514
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/4059457