Review: Sacred Matters-Chapter 9 Death

Religions often seek to give meaning to the unexplainable in our lives, and because of this fact it should be no surprise that death requires religious behavior in all cultures.  Laderman is quick to point out that the religious actions may look very different throughout the varying cultures, but regardless of their diversity death is always sacred whether god is involved or not.  Perhaps it's because it is the most inescapable and yet the most mysterious of all events that we know we will go through.

First on the list of topics Laderman explores are ghosts.  Since what lies beyond the grave is a mystery to us all it’s no wonder that ghosts and myths about people continuing to influence the living after death abound in our culture.  How are we to explain how people who have died still seem with us in some sense?  Could it be that there is not always a smooth transition between this life and the next?  This transition is often carefully watched over by a business, which fulfills a necessary task in all cultures, the funeral home.  Laderman addresses the new landscape such businesses must cross as people of very different cultural backgrounds with very different expectations for their deceased loved ones request their services.

In an interesting connection with the previous chapters of the book we see how venerated people from the other religious arenas discussed, music, celebrity, violence (war), film and more, often have lasting postmortem influence on their followers.  These people range from Christian saints, to dead rappers, to dead celebrities, and more.  Sometimes they have such a significant postmortem influence that they take on legendary status, with some fans even believing their death to be a fabrication or hoax.  Laderman details the postmortem influence of Tupac Shakur and Elvis Presley.

In my understanding the Bible is surprisingly ambiguous about what waits for us on the other side of death; although some people seem to think they can map it fairly accurately.  What most people believe to be Christian teaching on the subject is actually a kind of pop theology, which takes more cues from cartoons depicting heaven and hell or ancient Greek mythology.  Other then the resurrection that occurs at the Parousia we are figuratively in the dark as to what happens in the meantime.  My faith leads me to believe that just as God is lord of my life now he will remain lord over my life after death and because of that fact I try not to fear that inevitable inevitability that awaits us all.