After thousands of years of pondering it, we still find death one of life's most perplexing mysteries. Many cultures view death as a window into the true meaning of life.
These 24 lectures looking at this often feared subject are an uplifting, meaningful, and multidisciplinary exploration of life's only certainty. Bringing together theology, philosophy, biology, anthropology, literature, psychology, sociology, and other fields, they are a brilliant compendium of how human beings have struggled to come to terms with mortality. You'll encounter everything from ancient burial practices, traditional views of the afterlife, and the five stages of grief to the question of killing during wartime, the phenomenon of near-death experiences, and even 21st-century theories about transcending death itself.
With personal and cultural enlightenment as the overarching goal, Professor Berkson provides you with eye-opening answers to several major questions surrounding death, including: How do we think about death? How do religions approach death? When (if ever) is it justified to take a life? You'll also hear a chorus of voices from multiple disciplines, cultures, and ages as they offer sometimes shocking and sometimes refreshing perspectives on death. These voices include the Buddha, St. Paul, Albert Camus, Dylan Thomas, and Elizabeth Kübler-Ross.
"Many religious traditions teach that a form of regular death reflection can deepen one's appreciation for life," Professor Berkson notes. "And in some traditions, it can actually lead to spiritual transformation or awakening. As the poet Rainer Maria Rilke wrote, 'Whoever rightly understands and celebrates death at the same time magnifies life.'"
All Lectures:
1. Death's Place in Our Lives
2. Defining Death
3. Death, Illusion, and Meaning
4. Is It Rational to Fear Death?
5. Understanding and Coping with Grief
6. Death Rituals and the Corpse
7. American Death Rituals
8. Approaches to Dying Well
9. Judaism on Death and the Afterlife
10. Death and Hope in Christianity
11. Islam on Returning to God
12. Death, Rebirth, and Liberation in Hinduism
13. Buddhism on Impermanence and Mindfulness
14. The Process of Dying in Tibetan Buddhism
15. Confucian Remembrance, Daoist Forgetting
16. Death and Syncretism in China
17. Suicide Examined
18. The Choice of Euthanasia
19. Killing in War and the Pacifist Challenge
20. Considering Capital Punishment
21. Killing Non-Human Animals
22. Near-Death Experiences
23. The Pursuit of Immortality
24. The Value of Death
