Burial or cremation: the way to dispose of the dead in light of, cultural, social and religious issues
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.19141/1809-2454.kerygma.v18.n1.pe1609Keywords:
Burial, Cremation, Culture, BibleAbstract
Human civilizations have always demonstrated zeal and reverence when disposing of the dead at all times. Among Easterners, cremation has been the predominant practice. In Jewish and Christian cultures, tomb burial has been the most common, but in recent decades cremation has become a dominant practice in many Western countries. The popularization of crematoriums in the West raises the important question whether the Bible offers prescription on the decision to cremate or bury the dead. This article reflects on burial and cremation, their occurrence in history, their current rates, and what the Bible has to say about them. The biblical accounts of burial, punishment by fire and cremation are approached from a theological point of view, with the aim of understanding the nature of the account whether prescriptive or not. The essential thing in discussing the issue is to highlight the biblical hope of the restoration of all things in Christ, including the resurrection of human beings to immortal life or to judgment.
Downloads
References
BÄR, Walter; et al. “Postmortem Stability of DNA.” Forensic Science International. N. 39, 1988, p. 59-70.
BEALE, G. K. The Book of Revelation. The New International Greek Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2013.
BERGEN, Robert D. 1, 2 Samuel. The New American Commentary. Vol. 7. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996.
BÍBLIA, Português. A Bíblia Sagrada: Antigo e Novo Testamento. Trad. João Ferreira de Almeida. 2ª ed. rev. e atualizada no Brasil. Barueri, SP: Sociedade Bíblica do Brasil, 1993.
CALVIN, John. Institutes of the Christian Religion. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1960.
COWLING, Charles. The Good Funeral Guide: Everything You Need to Know. New York: Continuum, 2010.
Cremation Association, disponível em https://www.cremationassociation.org/page/IndustryStatistics, em 20/08/2022.
Cremation Society, disponível em https://www.cremation.org.uk/International-cremation-statistics-2019, em 20/08/2022.
CROSS, F. L.; LIVINGSTONE, Elizabeth A. (orgs.). The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.
DAVIES, Douglas J. The Theology of Death. New York: T & T Clark, 2008.
DAVIES, Douglas. Death, Ritual and Belief: The Rhetoric of Funerary Rites. 3a ed. New York: Bloomsbury, 2017.
DAVIES, Douglas; RUMBLE, Hannah. Natural Burial: Traditional-secular Spiritualities and Funeral Innovation. New York: Continuum, 2012.
DECKER, Rodney J. “Is it Better to Bury or Burn? A Biblical Perspective on Cremation and Christianity in Western Culture”. William R. Rice Lecture Series. Allen Park, MI: Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary, March 15, 2006.
EAGER, Geo B. “Cremation.” The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Ed. James Orr et al. Chicago: The Howard-Severance Company, 1915.
FOURNIER, Elizabeth. The Green Burial Guidebook: Everything you Need to Plan an Affordable Environmentally Friendly Burial. Novato: California: New World Library, 2018.
GANE, Roy E. Old Testament Law for Christians: Original Context and Enduring Application. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2017.
GEISLER, Norman L.; POTTER, Douglas E. “From Ashes to Ashes: Is Burial the Only Christian Option.” Christian Research Institute. April 14, 2009. Disponível em https://www.equip.org/articles/is-cremation-christian/, 05/25/2023.
HARRIS, Mark. Grave Matters: A Journey through the Modern Funeral Industry to a Natural Way of Burial. New York: Scribner, 2007.
HARRIS, R. Laird. “Leviticus.” The Expositor’s Bible Commentary. Ed. Frank E. Gaebelein. Vol. 7. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1990.
“History of cremation in America,” disponível em https://simplycremationservice.com, em 20/08/2022.
JONES, David W. “To bury or burn? Toward an ethic of cremation.” Journal of Evangelical Theological Society (JETS) 53/2. June 2010.
JONES, Elizabeth D. Ancient DNA: The Making of Celebrity Science. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2022. Kindle ed.
KANEKO, Yu; et al. “Comparison of hard tissues that are useful for DNA analysis in forensic autopsy.” Legal Medicine. N. 17. 2015, p. 547-552.
KRATZER, Walter A.; et al. “Postmortem Stability of DNA.” Forensic Science International. N. 39. 1988, p. 59-70.
MADVIG, Donald H. Joshuah. The Expositor’s Bible Commentary. Ed. Frank E. Gaebelein. Vol. 7. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1992.
MARE, H. W. “Burial.” The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible. Ed. Merril C. Tenney. Vol 1. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1976.
MATHEWS, K. A. Genesis 11:27–50:26. The New American Commentary. Vol. 1B. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2005.
MCCOMISKEY, Thomas E. Amos. The Expositor’s Bible Commentary. Ed. Frank E. Gaebelein. Vol. 7. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1985.
MCGRATH, Alister E. Christianity: An Introduction. 3a ed. Oxford: John Wiley & Sons, 2015.
NICHOL, Francis D. (ed.). Comentário Bíblico Adventista do Sétimo Dia. Vol. 4. Tatuí, SP: Casa Publicadora Brasileira, 2013.
O’COLLINS, Gerald. Believing in the Resurrection: The Meaning and Promise of the Risen Jesus. New York: Paulist Press, 2012.
PATTERSON, R. D.; AUSTED, H. J. 1 & 2 Kings. The Expositor’s Bible Commentary. Ed. Frank E. Gaebelein. Vol. 7. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1988.
PAULIEN, Jon. “The Seven Seals.” In Symposium on Revelation: Introductory and Exegetical Studies. Daniel and Revelation Committee Series. Vol. 6. Ed. Frank B. Holbrook. Silver Springs, MD: Biblical Research Institute, 1992.
PHIPPS, William E. Cremation Concerns. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas, 1989.
PROTHERO, Stephen. Purified by Fire: A History of Cremation in America. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2001.
SMITH, Billy K.; PAGE, Franklin S. Amos, Obadiah, Jonah. The New American Commentary. Vol. 19B. Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1995.
STEFANOVIC, Ranko. Revelation of Jesus Christ: Commentary on the Book of Revelation. Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University Press, 2009.
WHITE, Ellen G. O Desejado de Todas as Nações. 22ª ed. Tatuí, SP: Casa Publicadora Brasileira, 2004.
WRIGHT, Paul H. Cremation. Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Ed. Chad Brand et al. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2003.
YOUNGBLOOD, Ronald F. 1 & 2 Samuel. The Expositor’s Bible Commentary. Ed. Frank E. Gaebelein. Vol 3. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1992.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Kerygma
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish on Kerygma must agree to the following terms:
- Once accepted for publication, the copyright of articles is automatically transferred to Kerygma.
- All material used in the text that is copyrighted by third parties must be duly referenced.
- Authors must also retain the reproduction rights of images and tables in their material, if necessary.
- The authors guarantee that the submitted text is entirely their authorship and has not been submitted and/or published elsewhere.
- The opinions, ideas and concepts expressed in the texts are the sole responsibility of their authors and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Kerygma;
- The editors reserve the right to make textual adjustments and adapt to the publication's norms.
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication, with the work simultaneously licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International, which allows sharing of the work with acknowledgment of authorship and initial publication in this journal. This license allows others to remix, adapt, and build upon your work non-commercially, as long as they give proper credit to you and their new works are not used for commercial purposes. However, users are not required to license those derivative works under the same terms.
- The authors agree with the free reproduction of their material by Kerygma, which may adapt, modify, condense, summarize, reduce, compile, expand, alter, mix with other content, include images, graphics, digital objects, infographics and hyperlinks, illustrate, diagram, divide, update, translate and carry out any other transformations, requiring the participation or express authorization of the authors.
- The authors agree that Kerygma can distribute the articles through cable, fiber optics, satellite, airwaves or any other system that allows access to the user at a specific time and place, either by free channels or by systems that import payment. Kerygma may also include work in a physical or virtual database, archiving in printed format, storing on a computer, in a cloud system, microfilming and other current forms of archiving or that may still be developed, with or without profit.
- Authors are permitted to enter into separate, additional agreements for the non-exclusive distribution of the published version of the work in this journal (e.g., publishing it in an institutional repository or as a book chapter), with acknowledgment in the new publication of its initial publication in this journal.
- Kerygma owns the rights to all works published by it. The full reproduction of these texts in other publications, for any other purpose, by any means, requires written authorization from the publisher. The same goes for partial reproductions, such as summary, abstract, portions with more than 500 words of the text, tables, figures, illustrations, etc.
- Authors are granted permission and encouraged to publish and distribute their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their personal websites) at any point before or during the editorial process. This is because it can lead to productive alterations and increase the impact and citation of the published work. (See "The effect of open access and downloads ('hits') on citation impact: a bibliography of studies.")
