The Consolations Of Mortality

Interlude: Mortality versus Immortality: Why Not the Right to Choose? -- PART 4 LIFE INTIMATES DEATH -- thirteen: The Big Sleep -- fourteen: Stardust and Moonshine -- fifteen: Every Time I Say Goodbye, I Die a Little -- Conclusion: My Last Espresso -- Notes -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Y -- Z

For those who don’t believe in an afterlife, the wisdom of the ages offers four great consolations for mortality: that death is benign and good; that mortal life provides its own kind of immortality; that true immortality would be awful; and that we experience the kinds of losses in life that we will eventually face in death. Can any of these consolations honestly reconcile us to our inevitable demise? In this timely book, Andrew Stark tests the psychological truth of these consolations and searches our collective literary, philosophical, and cultural traditions for answers to the question of how we, in the twenty-first century, might accept our mortal condition. Ranging from Epicurus and Heidegger to bucket lists, the flaming out of rock stars, and the retiring of sports jerseys, Stark’s poignant and learned exploration shows how these consolations, taken together, reveal death as a blessing no matter how much we may love life.

Johann Gerhard (1582-1637) was one of the leading dogmatic theologians of his time and was the authoritative voice of seventeenth-century Lutheran Orthodoxy. Yet, he also published numerous devotional works and meditations that were meant to be used in the daily lives of ordinary believers. The Handbook of Consolations sought to provide comfort and encouragement not only to those approaching death, but also to those who provided care for the sick and dying. Gerhard himself was no stranger to sickness and death, having lost his infant son and young wife, and faced numerous life-threatening illnesses throughout his life. In this pastoral work, which is the first complete English translation based on Gerhard's original Latin to be published since the seventeenth century, Gerhard brings together his extensive understanding of Scripture, theology, and church history in a practical and easy-to-understand manual that is as relevant and meaningful in the twenty-first century as it was in Gerhard's day.

In the Ancient World death came - on average - at a far earlier age than in today's West, and without the authoritative warnings given by modern medicine. Consolation for the trauma of loss had, accordingly, a more prominent role to play. This volume presents eight original studies on consolatory writings from ancient Greek, Roman, early Christian and Arabic societies. The authors include internationally recognised authorities in the field. They offer insight into the ancient experience of loss and the methods used to palliate it. They explore how far there was a consolatory 'genre', involving letters, funerary oratory, epicedia, and philosophical prose. Focusing on responses to grief in numerous ancient authors, this volume finds elements of continuity and of individual variety in modes of consolation, and reveals instructive tensions between the commonplace and the personal.