Spring 2010
RELG 301: Death and Dying
Katharina von Kellenbach
Class room: AA 105
office: AA 110-G
M-W-F- 9:20 - 10:30
office hours: M 12:00-1:00
kvonkellenbach@smcm.edu
office ext. 4277
Goals of the Course:
This course examines death and dying in contemporary Western cultures where dying is
mostly hidden behind medical technology and ethical dilemmas of end-of-life care. We will
also study how the world religions have framed life-beyond-death (the ongoing presence of
ancestors, the immortality of the soul, afterlife, resurrection at the end of times, reincarnation)
and trace their specific mourning rituals and funeral practices. What do funerals tell us about a
culture’s most deeply held values? This course requires students’ willingness to confront
deeply held attitudes and emotions that surround death and dying. It may not be appropriate
for individuals who are live through acute grief or are directly affected by death.
Skills





Increased awareness of personal feelings, attitudes and beliefs about death and dying
Sensitivity to bio-ethical dilemmas surrounding end-of life decisions
Greater knowledge of various religious conceptions of transcendence
Awareness of grief processes and bereavement rituals
Ritual competence
Assessment
Requirements:
1. Class attendance and participation 10%: based on consistent completion of reading
assignments and thoughtful participation in class discussion. More than three absences
may affect the final grade! Please organize your life accordingly.
2. Written Assignments (40%):
10% Ethical Reflection on Choices in your Living Will (due 2/15)
10% Letter to a Deceased Loved-One (due 4/6)
10 % Cemetery Research (due 4/17)
10% Memorial and Funeral Design (due exam date)
3. A qualitative interview or in-depth conversation with a practitioner (20%): Approach
a person who is involved in the care of the dying and the bereaved, such as a rabbi, priest,
nurse, doctor, funeral director, HIV/AIDS counselor, health care activist and get their
practical perspective on a particular topic. The topic, the person and questions must be
approved by the instructor prior to the interview (March, 8). The interview can be
personal and informal but must be on a circumscribed topic. For instance, it should not be
“My brother’s funeral” but rather “How does the Roman Catholic Church currently
conduct funerals of suicides?” It can be personal “How does the death of a father affect
the life of a teenage son?” or be more pointed: “Do Baptists really believe in hell?”
4. Final Essay (30%) designed to facilitate reflection and integration of the information
gleaned from assigned readings, in-class presentations and class discussions.
Assigned Readings





Leo Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Illich, New York: Penguin Classics, 2008
Maggie Callanan and Patricia Kelley, Final Gifts: Understanding the Special Awareness,
Needs and Communications of the Dying, New York: Bantam Book, 1992
Rimpoche, The Tibetan Book of the Dead, New York: Bantam Books, 1993
Hiroshi Obayashi, Death and Afterlife: Perspectives of World Religions, New York:
Praeger, 1992
Colin Murray Parkes, Pittua Laungani, et.al. Death and Bereavement across Cultures,
New York: Routledge, 1997
Syllabus
Introduction
Week 1: introduction
Date
W 1/20
F 1/22
Topic
Introduction
Death Awareness
Assignments
Bring an object, film, song, piece of music, art, or poetry that
helps you approach and understand death
Week 2: Modern Death
M 1/25
W 1/27
Disease and death denial
Cont.
F 1/29
“On our own Terms”
Leo Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Illich
Leo Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Illich, Recommended film:
Tuesdays with Morrie, PN 1997.T72, 2000
“On our own Terms, PBS: Bill Moyers
(BF789.D4 L58 2003 )”
Week 3: visionS of a Good Death
M 2/1
W 2/3
Nearing Death
A Right to Die?
F 2/5
Choices in Dying
Callanan, Kelley, Final Gifts, p. 1-61; esp. chapt 4
Hemlock Society: http://www.finalexitnetwork.org/
Pope John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae , http://www.vatican.va/
holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jpii_enc_25031995_evangelium-vitae_en.html, BB
Download Living Will, discuss with family and friends, fill it out,
write an ethical reflection on your choices:
http://www.oag.state.md.us/healthpol/adirective.pdf discuss
Week 4: The Medical management of death
M 2/8
W 2/10
F 2/12
Defining Death
The Newly Dead
Organ Donation
Robert Veatch, Death, Dying and the Biological Revolution, 15-58
Veatch, Death, Dying and the Biological Revolution ,197-223
Williams Lafleur, “Enhancement and Desire: Japanese Qualms
about Where Biotechnology is Taking Us” in Journal of Law,
Medicine & Ethics; Spring 2008, Vol. 36 Issue 1, 65-72; BB
2
Week 5: the “Pornography of Death”
M 2/15
W 2/17
Discussion of Living Wills
Violence and Pornography
F 2/19
Violent Deaths
Reflections on Living Will due
Geoffrey Gorer, “The Pornography of Death,”192-199; BB;
Recommended film: Dead Man, PN 1997.D4013 1995
TBA
Week 6: Suicide
M 2/22
W 2/24
F 2/26
watch: Sally Heckel, Unspeakable
Suicide
Suicide
Karma and Rebirth
TBA
Read: Bhagavad Gita, 9.28,34
Week 7: reincarnation: hinduism
M 3/1
Reincarnation
W 3/3
Cremation as Purification
F 3/5
Impermanence and Suffering
Ian Stevenson, MD., Twenty Cases Suggestive of
Reincarnation, 52-67; BB
Pittu Laungani, “Death in a Hindu Family,” in Parkes, 5272; Watch film: Forest of Bliss, by John Gardner
Read: Parable of the Mustard Seed
Week 8: reincarnation; Buddhism
M 3/8
Bardo of the Death Moment
W 3/10
Bardo of In-Between
F 3/12
Buddhist Funerals Rituals
M 3/15- 3/17
Read: Tibetan Book of the Dead,
Conversation Partner and Interview Questions due!
Read: Tibetan Book of the Dead
Recommended film: Samsara
Uwe Gielen, “A Death on the Roof of the World,”
Parkes, 73-97
SPRING BREAK
Week 9: Ancestors; Confucianism
M 3/22
W 3/24
Ancestor Reverence
Confucian Ancestors
F 3/26
God of our Fathers
Bring the oldest document/evidence of your ancestors
Henry Rosemont, “On the Non-Finality of Physical Death
in Classical Confucianism,” BB
Read Genesis on Abraham; vision of Ezekiel 37
Week 10: Judaism: “the God of your Ancestors”
M 3/29
W 3/31
F 4/2
Read: The Book of Job
Interview Reports due
Ellen Levine, “Jewish Views and Customs on Death,”
Parkes, 98-130
Questioning God about Suffering
Cont.
The Jewish Year of Mourning
Week 11: The Afterlife in Egypt and Greece
M 4/5
W 4/7
Of Mummies and Pyramids
“How are you? … Behold I am
William Murnane, “Taking it with you.” Obayashi, 32-48
Letter to a deceased loved-one due!
(http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/texts/letters_to_the_dead.
3
the one you loved on earth”
(Letter from Stele, Cairo)
F 4/9
htm#littlestele)
Helen North, “Death and Afterlife in Greek Tragedy and
Plato,” Obayashi, 49-63,
Recommended film: Antigone
Burial as Obligation
Week 12: Christianity: Afterlife and resurrection
M 4/12
The Risen Christ
W 4/14
Immortal Soul and Resurrected Body
F 4/16
Earth Burial
1.Corinthians 15, Leander Keck, “Death and
Afterlife in the New Testament,” Obayashi, 83-96
Obayashi, “Death and Eternal Life in Christianity,”
Obayashi, 109-123
Cemetery Report due
Week 13: Spirits, ghosts, deathbed visions and NDEs
M 4/19
W 4/21
F 4/23
No class
NDE: Between Life and Death
Cont.
Final Gifts, p.61-113
Final Essay due!
Week 14: mourning in America
M 4/26
W 4/28
F 4/30
Roadside Memorials
The Funeral Industry
Alternative Funerals
Visit by Anthropologist Dan Ingersoll
TBA
TBA
Week 15: The End
M 5/10 @ 9:00AM
Memorial and Funeral Designs
Cemetery Visit
Please go to a cemetery (the Trinity cemetery is on campus, but any cemetery is possible) and
find some of the following prompts. You can submit your report as photographs on
powerpoint, as artistic renderings, or as descriptive report:
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
1.
2.
3.
4.
five different religious symbols, images, epitaphs and styles of headstone
an infant, a teenager, the very oldest person you can find
someone who died a violent death
a family plot; a husband-wife plot
a headstone that mentions cause of death, profession or occupation, ethnicity or
national origin
something you don’t understand (a symbol, practice, custom)
things left on or near a grave by visitors
Criteria for evaluation of interview, written report and oral presentation
Your choice of interview partner, the time required and overall effort
The depth of your questions and quality of your conversation;
your oral report, quality of information and engagement of peers
your written reflection and summary of no more than five pages, quality of writing,
spelling, grammar, structure of argument will be counted
4