Death & Dying (Thanatology)

Last Breath: Art Therapy With a Lung Cancer Patient Facing Imminent Death

by Lisa Furman

For Gabe and Ari

by Rebecca Sachs Norris

In The Patient’s Voice: Experiences of Illness, Jeanine Young-Mason, ed., Philadelphia: F. A. Davis C., 1997.

With a Steady Eye

by Rebecca Sachs Norris

In Parabola, Vol. 27, No. 2, Summer 2002.

INTRODUCTION TO SANTA MUERTE - a critical description through faith, politics, and marketing

by Laura Merlo

Translation of my Bachelor thesis, which I wrote at the end of my three years study period at Bologna University.

Who is Santa Muerte? Who are her devotees? Is she narco's goddess? A critical analisys which aims to describe, with a... more Who is Santa Muerte? Who are her devotees? Is she narco's goddess? A critical analisys which aims to describe, with a critical point of view, a recent phenomenon which is hardly understandable and is highly differentiated, more than one might be prone to think.

A Passing Glance: Encounters with Deadness and Dying

by Sylwia Chrostowska

published in Beauty and the Abject (Peter Lang)

Death and Desires

by Ben Bradley

Co-authored with Kris McDaniel.  Forthcoming in James S. Taylor (ed.), The Metaphysics and Ethics of Death (Oxford University Press).

Where do Cats Go?: Reflections on Death Post Patriarchal Christianity by Sara Frykenberg

by Feminism and Religion

originally posted in the Feminism and Religion Project

The reason I am speaking about death today is two-fold.  First, I have been somewhat preoccupied with the concept... more The reason I am speaking about death today is two-fold.  First, I have been somewhat preoccupied with the concept of death since entering a new decade of my life.  I no longer believe in the evangelical vision of heaven I learned about in my youth; but as an uncomfortable “un”-Christian, I also have no satisfactory vision to replace it.  Or rather, there are many visions I find appealing, but none that I “believe in,” as I had believed in heaven.  My family is getting older, my parents have been sick in the last few years, and I often feel that I have more to lose now than I used to.

My second reason for considering death today is that last Wednesday, Mimi, our family cat of 24 years—yes, 24—passed away.  After spending all nine of her lives living, Mimi could no longer eat and was suffering.  My mother had her put down after we all said goodbye; we held a funeral for her and buried her among the lilies in our yard, her home.

My sisters and myself were very, very saddened by Mimi’s passing; but my mother took it hardest of all.  Mimi had been her companion, her friend, her lap warmer, her snuggle buddy, her alarm clock and, we often joked, her favorite child for over two decades.  I wanted to comfort my mother; but my protest that it didn’t matter what the (her) Church said, Mimi was with the God/dess, was maybe, not very helpful.  It perhaps, only reminded her that in her view, I too am not going to heaven.

Exposer le cadavre de l'ennemi

by Hadrien Rambach

Danses Macabres d'Europe. Bulletin no. 44, January 2012, p. 20

Report of the recent sale of four skulls, apparently displayed in Prague 1621-1848. Report of the recent sale of four skulls, apparently displayed in Prague 1621-1848.

Re-imagining Islamic Death Rituals in a Small Town Context in the Netherlands. Ritual Transfer and Ritual Fantasy

by Claudia Venhorst

CLAUDIA VENHORST, ERIC VENBRUX & THOMAS QUARTIER: ‘Re-imagining Islamic Death Rituals in a Small Town Context in the Netherlands. Ritual Transfer and Ritual Fantasy’, in Jaarboek voor liturgieonderzoek/Yearbook for Liturgical and Ritual Studies 27 (2011) 169-187.

Rev. of A.C. Cohen, Death Rituals, Ideology, and the Development of Early Mesopotamian Kingship (2005)

by Lorenzo Verderame

Mesopotamia 45 (2010), 146-157

Ur, cemetery, royal tombs, ritual, human sacrifice Ur, cemetery, royal tombs, ritual, human sacrifice

Well-Being and Time

by J. David Velleman

Originally published in the Pacific Philosophical Quarterly (1991). Reprinted in The Possibility of Practical Reason, online in the SPO Monograph Series.

The goodness of a life is not a function of the goodness of the moments within that life. The goodness of a life is not a function of the goodness of the moments within that life.

The Impact of the So-Called Stages of Grief

by Brian Wong

INTRODUZIONE ALLA SANTA MUERTE: panoramica critico-descrittiva tra fede, politica e marketing

by Laura Merlo

La mia tesi di laurea triennale, che ho scritta al termine dei miei tre anni presso l'università di Bologna.

Cos'è la Santa Muerte? Chi sono i suoi devoti? E' la dea dei narcotrafficanti? Una panoramica che mira a descrivere,... more Cos'è la Santa Muerte? Chi sono i suoi devoti? E' la dea dei narcotrafficanti? Una panoramica che mira a descrivere, con sguardo critico, un fenomeno recente e ancora difficilmente comprensibile, più differenziato e multiforme di quanto si sia portati a credere.

So It Goes

by J. David Velleman

published online as The Amherst Lecture in Philosophy 1 (2006)

The passage of time is an illusion The passage of time is an illusion

The Undoing of Patriarchy in the Life of Tom Jorde (1922-2011) by Cynthie Garrity-Bond

by Feminism and Religion

Last week I attended the funeral of the one man, who in my feminist musings, was able to image the maleness of God as... more Last week I attended the funeral of the one man, who in my feminist musings, was able to image the maleness of God as father, friend and pastor. If I had thought about it, I would have given him the T-shirt that reads, “This is What a Feminist Looks Like,” but it never occurred to me until now.

Symbolic and Social Roles of Women in Death Ritual in Traditional Irish Society

by Jenny Butler

Oosterwijk - Vive l'amour 2010

by Sophie Oosterwijk

Published in Stefanie Knöll (ed.), Frauen – Sünde – Tod (Düsseldorf: Düsseldorf University Press, 2010), 9-26.

Rembrandt's 1639 etching of 'The Lovers and Death' is one in a long line of illustrations on the theme of youth... more Rembrandt's 1639 etching of 'The Lovers and Death' is one in a long line of illustrations on the theme of youth encountering death. Earlier examples can be found in the medieval Danse Macabre tradition, which in turn had their roots in depictions of Adolescentia in the Ages of Man. The idea is that youth is too focussed on love (or lust) and vain pleasures to heed the possibility of an early death. Either singly or in pairs, young men and maidens are greeted by the grim spectacle of a putrefying corpse that embodies what they themselves must become when death robs them of their youthful bloom. Yet the moralising nature of earlier texts and depictions makes way for more titillating interpretations in Renaissance art, whether it is Death preying upon couples or on hapless nubile women.

Culture, Food, and Death

by Louis Hoffman

Jason Dias, co-author

Review of the movie Departures, PsycCRITIQUES-Contemporary Psychology: APA Review of Books, 55 (No. 18). Review of the movie Departures, PsycCRITIQUES-Contemporary Psychology: APA Review of Books, 55 (No. 18).

Finitude and the infinite: The crossroads of existential psychology and spirituality.

by Louis Hoffman

Nathaniel Granger, co-author

PsycCRITIQUES review of the book, Existential and spiritual issues in death attitudes edited by Adrian Tomer, Grafton... more PsycCRITIQUES review of the book, Existential and spiritual issues in death attitudes edited by Adrian Tomer, Grafton T. Eliason, and Paul T. P. Wong

Cities of the Dead: Architectural Motifs and Burial Practices in Curaçao’s Religious and Ethnic Communities

by Laura Leibman

Co-authored with Kent Coupé . Published in Markers: Annual Journal of the Association for Gravestone Studies. XXVII, pp. 56-87.

In this study we analyze the cemeteries of Curaçao, a small desert island in the Dutch West Indies near the coast of... more In this study we analyze the cemeteries of Curaçao, a small desert island in the Dutch West Indies near the coast of Venezuela that was once a crucial player in colonial smuggling and the slave trade. Our study compares the island’s Jewish (Spanish-Portuguese), Protestant (primarily Dutch), and Catholic (Afro-Curaçaoan) cemeteries. Following the work of Dickran and Ann Tashijian, Keith Cunningham, Lynn Gosnell, Suzanna Gott and others, we interpret these stones within the religio-cultural context of the people who used them. We argue that whereas ethnic cemeteries in the United States often emphasize the distinctiveness of the communities, Curaçao’s cemeteries emphasize both ethnic distinction and ethnic elision. The permeability of racial and religious boundaries in the cemeteries reflects the island’s complicated racial history and is an important reminder of how race is often constructed differently outside of the United States. This permeability should not be confused with social equality: indeed, as racial categories became more fluid following emancipation, islanders used other categories such as wealth and status displays to reinforce social privilege within (as opposed to between) ethnic groups.