Religion, Death and the Senses

This edited collection brings together academics and practitioners to explore 6 physical and 3 socio-cultural senses in relation to death and dying: the senses of sight, of smell, of sound, of taste, of touch, of movement, of decency, of humour, and of loss.

Each sense section comprises two chapters to provide differing examples of how death and dying can be viewed through the lens of human physical and cultural senses. Chapters include historical and contemporary examples of ways in which death, dying and grieving are inextricable from their physical sensual expressions and socio-cultural mores. Most books about death explore how death can be theorised, theologised, and philosophised, or attend to the particular needs of health professionals working in palliative or pastoral care, with little attention to how people engage with and attend to, death, dying and grief sensually.

The uniqueness of this collection lies in two areas, firstly its deep engagement with a range of physical and socio-cultural sensual responses to death and dying, and secondly, through its contributors who are drawn from a wide spectrum of professional, practical, and theoretical expertise and scholarship in fields which continue to redefine our understanding of mortality.