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Beyond Belief

Religion & Ethics

Series exploring the place and nature of faith in today's world

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Beyond Belief: Death Rituals in the Absence of a Body

13/11/2017

Death Rituals in the Absence of a Body

BBC Radio 4 - Beyond Belief, Death Rituals in the Absence of a Body

Ernie Rea in conversation with guests about the place of faith in today's complex world.

Ernie Rea discusses how we mourn our dead loved ones in the absence of a body. Is the process of grieving and letting go more difficult with no tangible evidence of death?

The rituals of Remembrance Sunday still have power to move us. The thought of the millions who died, many of whom have no known grave; they are victims of war known only to God. For the many families who mourned loved ones killed in the World Wars, the fact that there were no bodies to bury, no tangible evidence of death, made the process of grieving and letting go all the more difficult. But does it pose a problem religiously? Joining Ernie Rea to discuss how we mourn our dead loved ones in the absence of a body are Professor Douglas Davies, Director of the Centre for Death and Life Studies at the University of Durham; Dr Miri Freud-Kandel, Fellow in Modern Judaism at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies; and Dr Chetna Kang, who is a Consultant Psychiatrist and Hindu Priest.

Producer: Amanda Hancox.

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