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Princeton University Library Catalog
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Preaching death : the transformation of Christian funeral sermons / Lucy Bregman.
Author
Bregman, Lucy
[Browse]
Format
Book
Language
English
Published/Created
Waco, Tex. : Baylor University Press, ©2011.
Description
vii, 255 pages ; 23 cm
Availability
Copies in the Library
Location
Call Number
Status
Location Service
Notes
Firestone Library - Stacks
BT825 .B735 2011
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Details
Subject(s)
Death
—
Religious aspects
—
Christianity
—
History of doctrines
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Death
—
Biblical teaching
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Funeral sermons
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Funeral rites and ceremonies
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Library of Congress genre(s)
Funeral sermons
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Summary note
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 and creating new professions such as hospice nurse and grief counselor. Bregman questions whether this transition--which occurred unobserved and without conflict--was inevitable and 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. -- Publisher.
Bibliographic references
Includes bibliographical references (p. 239-245) and index.
Contents
pt. 1. What Christians used to say about death. A changeover of messages and images
What is a Christian funeral?
Funeral theologies of death
Heaven as home
Heaven as journey
Natural immortality
The Lord's will
pt. 2. The age of silence and denial. "Please omit funeral"
The challenge of new theologies
Death as enemy
pt. 3. What came next. New words of death, dying, and grief
The triumph of the biographical
pt. 4. What might have been. Two alternatives
What might have been : lament
The eclipse of poetry
pt. 5. Conclusion. What Christians no longer want to say about death.
Show 13 more Contents items
ISBN
9781602583207 ((pbk. ; : alk. paper))
160258320X ((pbk. ; : alk. paper))
9781602584242 ((e-book))
1602584249
LCCN
2010052531
OCLC
693684154
Statement on language in description
Princeton University Library aims to describe library materials in a manner that is respectful to the individuals and communities who create, use, and are represented in the collections we manage.
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