Dishonoring Cremation

Last updated on: November 19, 2014 at 12:28 pm by David Mills

Dishonoring Cremation 2014-11-19T12:28:38-04:00 David Mills

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

An essay by the philosopher Rachel Lu taking up the subject of Friday’s The Grave Not Taken, from her Aleteia column: Is cremation any way to honor our dead? Only rarely, she argues:

Neither cremation nor burial is a Sacrament, so the significance of the choice is mainly symbolic and not metaphysical. Nevertheless, as Christians, we should when possible choose burial as a more fitting way of honoring our loved ones in keeping with our faith.

Among the reasons for the popularity of cremation, she suggests this interesting one:

It is also possible that modern people, because they have such difficulty disciplining the bodily appetites, are especially attracted to the symbolic “discarding” the body in the post-mortem. The body feels like more of a weight than a blessing to the soul, so it seems better to live without it.

Death

How we should live

Uncategorized

Previous Post

November 16, 2014

Distant Neighbors, and Other Insights

Next Post

November 19, 2014 Celebrating LBGT TV

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Abortion & life American Life Anglican Affairs Apologetics Art and artistry Beer Capitalism's downside Catholic converts Catholic issues Catholicism & public life Catholicism in general Christianity & culture Christianity & the Jews Conservatism Conservative problems Death Do unto others Dogs Ecumenical friendship Evangelicalism Evil in the world Family Friendship Heroes How we should live Islam It's a funny old world Jews Judaism Israel Judaism justice Liberalism Life issues Marriage Mary Mass Media Modern culture good & bad Modern life as it is lived Modern Religion Mormonism People Personal reflections Politicians Protestantism Race Rand & Randiansm Secularisms Sexualities Society justice equality freedom The papacy & the pope Uncategorized Worship Writing & Language

Select a Month January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does Paul tell the Philippians to rejoice in always?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Their salvation God's goodness The Lord All circumstances