Preaching death : the transformation of Christian funeral sermons / Lucy Bregman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bregman, Lucy.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Death--Religious aspects--Christianity--History of doctrines.

Death.

Death--Biblical teaching.

Funeral sermons.

Funeral rites and ceremonies.

Death--Religious aspects--Christianity.

Physical Description:

vii, 255 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Waco, Tex. : Baylor University Press, [2011]

Summary:

Christians traditionally have had something substantive and important to say about death and afterlife. Yet the language and imagery used in sermons about life and death have given way to language designed to comfort and celebrate.

In Preaching Death, Lucy Bregman tracks the changes in Protestant American funerals over the last one hundred years. Early twentieth-century "natural immortality" doctrinal funeral sermons transitioned to an era of silence and denial, eventually becoming expressive, biographical tributes to the deceased. The contemporary death awareness movement, with the "death as a natural event" perspective, has widely impacted American culture, affecting health care, education, and psychotherapy. Bregman questions whether this transition-which occurred unobserved and without conflict-was inevitable and explores what alternative paths could have been chosen. In tracing this unique story, she reveals how Americans' comprehension of death shifted in the last century-and why we must find ways to move beyond it. Book jacket.

Contents:

Part I What Christians Used to Say about Death

1 A Changeover of Messages and Images 3

2 What Is a Christian Funeral? 17

3 Funeral Theologies of Death 31

4 Heaven as Home 47

5 Heaven as Journey 61

6 Natural Immortality 75

7 The Lord's Will 89

Part II The Age of Silence and Denial

8 "Please Omit Funeral" 107

9 The Challenge of New Theologies 119

10 Death as Enemy 133

Part III What Came Next

11 New Words for Death, Dying, and Grief 151

12 The Triumph of the Biographical 167

Part IV What Might Have Been

13 Two Alternatives 183

14 What Might Have Been-Lament 197

15 The Eclipse of Poetry 211

Part V Conclusion

16 What Christians No Longer Want to Say about Death 227.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781602583207

160258320X

OCLC:

693684154