Death, Dying & Life After Death

The discussion of Christians here will be limited to conservative Roman Catholics, the Eastern Orthodox communities, and ôHigh Churchö Protestants, since these ôcatholicö Christians share similar funeral and mourning customs; whereas those of other varieties of Christianity have undergone a highly divergent evolution. Likewise, discussion of Hindu practices will be limited to those of the major sects, which share a common and apparently ancient philosophy about the concepts of karma and reincarnation. Discussion of Sioux practices will be based on information from Sioux ômedicine men,ö such as Black Elk and John Fire Lame Deer. Even though Black Elk had converted to Roman Catholicism in 1904, was engaged in creating a theology that combined traditional Sioux religion and Roman Catholic doctrine, and so cannot be taken uncritically as a source of primary information on traditional Sioux practices, any practices he discusses that are clearly different from those of traditional Christianity are probably of Lakota origin. John Fire Lame Deer seems less influenced by Christian concepts, and can probably be considered a more reliable source.

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e buried beneath an altar, but Canon #1242 allows bishops to be buried in their own churches, and the burial vault in many ancient churches is in fact below the main altar.) To some extent Jewish and early Christian belief in physical resurrection no doubt also created a preference for interment. However, to think that resurrection was not possible unless the body were interred would have been to doubt GodÆs ability to re-assemble each body from its constituent parts, no matter how widely dispersed they may have become; and thus such an attitude was never given theological respectability. Contemporary ôcatholicö Christians are not in practice focused on a future physical resurrection. Rather, they perceive a continuity between life and death, in that both the faithful departed and the living faithful are living right now in the presence of God, continue to make up a single community as the Family of God, and thus participate in worship together. Ware (1972, pp. 258-60) provides a good example of such beliefs among the Eastern Orthodox; Roman Catholics began to think more along these lines after the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council. The common Hindu belief that all humans are trapped on the wheel of rebirth, u
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Milky Sioux, Vatican Council, Jewish Christian, Erdoes Ortiz, Gospels Jewish, Roman Catholic, Churchö Protestants, Lame Deer, Martyrs Saints, Near Eastern, lame deer, lame deer erdoes, fire lame deer, erdoes ortiz, john fire, fire lame, physical resurrection, canon law, erdoes ortiz 1984, ortiz 1984, john fire lame, deer erdoes, ôcatholicö christians, code canon law, black elk,
Approximate Word count = 1270
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)

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