Summary
Title: A Brief History of Death
Author: Douglas Davies
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell.
ISBN: 1405101830
Pro:
• Compares and contrasts a wide variety of cultural beliefs & practices
• Even includes modern secular developments in treatment of death
• Covers religious, scientific, anthropological, philosophical, even artistic issues
Con:
• More on secular developments might have been nice
• Religious discussions rely too heavily on western Christianity
Description:
• History and analysis of how people have dealt with death over the millennia
• Traces cultural changes, especially in the West
• Deals with beliefs about the afterlife, grieving, burial, etc.
Book Review
Douglas Davies, a professor in the Study of Religion in the Department of Theology and Religion at the University of Durham, specializes in anthropological and religious questions about death, mortality, and grief. His book A Brief History of Death is part of Blackwell's Brief Histories of Religion series and provides a handy introduction to a wide variety of issues around death, dying, and burial. It doesn't just address how religions have tried to explain and deal with death, but also how death is handled from philosophical, political, and even artistic perspectives.
Davies begins his exploration with the Epic of Gilgamesh, the oldest known work of literature — yet as old as it is, it still has the ability to speak to us directly because it addresses enduring human concerns: love and loss, death and grief, and immortality. It's no coincidence that this ancient text also deals directly with such issues.
Self-Reflection & Hope
Davies' basic thesis is that despite all the variations in how humans have thought about or approached death, they have all been driven to one degree or another by two basic features of human nature. First, we are self-reflective species. No other animal seems to do what we do: ponder who or what exactly we are, why we are here, what we should do with our time here, where we are going, etc.:
The history of death is a history of self-reflection. Who are we? Whence do we come, and whither go after death? If there is an afterlife, what is it like and how might we prepare for it?
Second, our species is one "condemned" to hope: in the absence of proof, we hope for a future beyond death, we have hope that compels us to strive for higher and greater achievements, we have hope that encourages us to keep learning more and seek proof for what's happening, etc.:
There is an optimism in hope that fosters human endeavor in a committed search for solutions to problems even when they may appear insoluble. Hope makes it more likely that individuals or societies will overcome adverse situations to survive today and be even more prepared to face adversity in the future. There is survival value in hope.
Hope & Faith
Although hope isn't the same as faith, it is closely related and this is one reason why hope combines with self-reflection to create myths and stories about who we are, why we are here, and where we are going:
Hope underlies the human drive for meaning; it fuels the processes producing the sense of transcendence in life. The human being, self-conscious and aware of living in an uncertain world of risk and potential danger, has found it possible to face daily life and hardship because of this attitude of possibility and a sense that difficulty may be overcome.
Primary examples of this are of course religious myths about human origins and destiny, but these aspects of human nature also combine in secular ways, compelling us to learn more about humanity and to seek ways to extend human reach, human knowledge, and even human life spans.
Transcending Life & Death
Central in all this is the concept of transcendence: belief or hope in the ability to transcend death and thus transcend human life itself. Belief in souls and an afterlife is one obvious form, but even art, literature, and music can have this effect by causing a person to feel transported outside and beyond their bodies and daily existence.
Many rituals, religious or secular, create the sense that one transcends the limited self by merging with a larger human community, past and present. There is even a kind of secularized after-life: cryogenically freezing the dead in the hope of future resurrection once medical science progresses enough. Less literal forms include the desire to have one's ashes spread in water or beneath a tree in the hope of merging with the larger natural environment.
Secularization of Death
Most books about the history of death focus on religion of course, but Davies gives some attention to the secularization of attitudes and beliefs about death, too. The shift from religious to secular views about life and death can be seen most vividly in the shifting attitudes towards handling the dead body. What we think of and how we treat the body of a deceased loved-one says volumes about our relationship not only with the person, but with life and death itself. This means that the secularization of attitudes about death reflect the secularization of society and relationships in society generally.
In the past, the body was kept whole in the expectation of a physical resurrection; it took a lot of time and cultural changes before cremation became an accepted practice. In the past, funerals were highly religious and focused on the loved-one joining family in heaven; today, even priests have shifted the focus of many funeral orations to the person's life and accomplishments. In the past burial near a church was standard practice; today it's increasingly common for ashes to be scattered in or around some site with special personal significance.
Bottom Line
This history of beliefs and practices surrounding death, dying, and grieving is too complex for one book, but Douglas Davies' A Brief History of Death is a great introduction. Davies touches on so many different religious, artistic, philosophical, and secular matters that you'll probably want to read more. Given the importance of these beliefs and practices, it's certainly a subject worth learning more about.
