WALTER (Tony), The Eclipse of Eternity. A Sociology of the Afterlife

Abstract

Introduction -- The Afterlife: a Theological Survey -- The Afterlife: Popular Beliefs Today -- Secularisation and the Terror of Death -- Idealist and Materialist Explanations -- Medicine: the Secularisation of Hope -- Funerals and Burials: the Secularisation of Ritual (1) -- Cremation and Dissection: the Secularisation of Ritual (2) -- Loss: the Secularisation of Meaning -- Retrospect and Prospect -- Pastoral Care -- Heavens on Earth -- Ethics without Eternity -- The Reappearance of the Hereafter -- The Eclipse of Eternity -- Bibliography -- Index. 1. The Afterlife: A Theological Survey -- 2. The Afterlife: Popular Beliefs Today -- 3. Secularisation and the Terror of Death -- 4. Idealist and Materialist Explanations -- 5. Medicine: the Secularisation of Hope -- 6. The Secularisation of Ritual: Funerals and Burials -- 7. The Secularisation of Ritual: Cremation and Dissection -- 8. Loss: The Secularisation of Meaning -- 9. Retrospect and Prospect -- 10. Pastoral Care -- 11. Heavens on Earth -- 12. Ethics without Eternity -- 13. The Reappearance of the Hereafter -- 14. The Eclipse of Eternity.