Death, Ritual and Belief : The Rhetoric of Funerary Rites (Hardcover, 3 ed)

Preface to Second Edition Preface to Third Edition Acknowledgements Illustrations Introduction 1. Interpreting Death Rites 2. Coping with Corpses: Impurity, Fertility and Fear 3 Theories of Grief 4. Violence, Sacrifice and Conquest 5. Eastern Destiny and Death 6. Ancestors, Cemeteries and Local Identity 7. Jewish and Islamic Destinies 8. Christianity and the Death of Jesus 9. Near-Death, Symbolic Death and Rebirth 10. Somewhere to Die 11. Souls and the Presence of the Dead 12. Pet and Animal Death 13. Robots, Books, Films and Buildings 14. Offending Death, Grief and Religions 15. Secular Death and Life Bibliography Index