Natural Burial Traditional - Secular Spiritualities and Funeral Innovation

From the 1990s the British developed an interest in natural burial, also known as woodland, green, or ecological burial. Naturalburial constitutes part of a long, historical legacy for British funeral innovation; from Victorian cemetery monuments and garden cemeteries through thebirth and rise of cremation to the many things done with cremated remains. The book sets natural burial in the context of such creative dealing with death,grief, mourning, and the celebration of life. Themes from sociology and anthropology combine with psychological issues and theological ideas to showhow human emotions take shape and help people consider their own death whilst also dealing with the death of those they love. The authors explore the variety of motivations for people to engage with natural burial and its popular appeal, using interviewswith people having a relationship with one natural burial site created by the Church of England but open to all. They illustrate people's understandings oflife and death in the sacred, secular and mixed worlds of modern Britain.

Preface \ 1. Funeral Forms,Life-styles and Death-styles \ 2. Varied Sites and Changing Rites \ 3. Optionsand Motivations: What People Say \ 4. Self-Gift, Soil, and Society \ 5. Spirituality,Theology, Self and Sense of Place \ Notes \ Bibliography \ Index