Corpse Care: Ethics for Tending the Dead

by Cody J. Sanders, Mikeal C. Parsons

Corpse Care relates the history of death care in the U.S. to craft robust, constructive, practical ethics for tending the dead. It specifically relates corpse care to economic, environmental, and pastoral concerns.



Death and the treatment of the dead body loom large in our collective, cultural consciousness. The authors explore the materiality and meaning of the dead body and the living's relationship to it. All the biggest questions facing the planetary human community relate in one way or another to the corpse. Surprisingly, Christian communities are largely missing in the discussion of the dead, having abdicated the historic role in care for the dead to the funeral industry. Christianity has stopped its reflection about the body once that body no longer bears life. Corpse Care stakes a claim that the fact of embodiment, this incarnational truth, this process of our bodily becoming, is a practical, ethical, and theological necessity.

Genres: Theology

162 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 3, 2023

Reviews

[Ryan Linkous · Rating 3 out of 5]

This provided an informative description about how Christians have historically treated the body after death. I think this is valuable information for pastors to have as they navigate the death of their church members and their loved ones. It certainly is important if we believe in eschatology.

They quickly review information we learn from the New Testament about corpse care and then survey practices in church history, both ancient and modern. This survey is the most helpful part of the book.

As the authors begin their theological explanation, they spend a good deal of time talking about injustice and the environment. While those are interesting – for me, it's the information about natural burial which I think is important – those chapters aren't essential to glean much helpful information from this book.

One theological angle I was disappointed the authors didn't explore was the implications of the resurrection for dead bodies and how that shapes our practices. They note how that affected a few arguments (like those in favor of cremation), but were not dogmatic themselves on that point.

[Kali Cawthon-Freels · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating introduction to an idea that is often an after thought in Christian spaces-- highly recommend.

The first two chapters are a (super) broad summary of death care practices from antiquity through the present. In the third chapter, the authors propose what a theology centered on the corpse can teach us about community and connection not just with our neighbor and God, but with the earth God created. The final chapter discusses the currently-evolving death care practices and what the future may hold.

The gem of this book is the third chapter. The reflections they provide give the reader an opportunity to see how the earth fits into their own theology, then invites them to think about how their body may impact the earth once their own body becomes a corpse. It also invites the reader to reflect upon what does it mean for their body to be part of community, both with the earth and our neighbors. The lessons the living can learn from that chapter are rich; I've already talked through those reflections with several colleagues and they've found the reflections equally thought-provoking.

I found this book incredibly insightful and see myself revisiting it throughout my ministry, but I think the book could be strengthened by a more robust discussion of what the corpse of Christ may have to teach us about the corpse itself (which gets one brief mention in the conclusion). Stereotypically, Christians have a tendency to rush Jesus from Good Friday to Resurrection Sunday without sitting with the weight of the dead Christ in the time in between. I don't think the book is lacking per se, but a conversation about this could potentially enrich this great resource, particularly for those interested in building a more robust theology around the corpse.

[Tara Brabazon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an terrific book. A wow from me. Well written. Well paced argument. And provocative.

This book does not explore dying. It looks at what happens to a body after death, not only in terms of the treatment of the body, but the meaning systems that followed it.

If cultural studies did death - we couldn't do better than this.

And I was incredibly impressed to see a powerful discussion of how bodies after death were 'weaponized' through colonization. The disrespect of Indigenous bodies was part of a system of marginalization, erasure and disrespect.

There is also attention on what happened through the commodification of the dead body. The care of women in the home was destroyed by focusing on the 'dangers' of the dead body. So the care of the body was removed from the home, and passed on to 'professional men' who carried corpses into the death industrial complex.

Absolutely brilliant.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read and incredible research notes. Insightful and thought-provoking. Recaps cultural history in Unites States of what we do with a body once it stops breathing. Identifies the interplay of race, class, religion, violence and conflict, climate change, etc. Reviews pros and cons of current options: burial, cremation( fire and water), green burial, etc. Corpse Care made the top 5 books I read in 2023.

[Jacob · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m convinced. I no longer favor cremation. I’m all about the natural burial. I think the authors do a great job of laying out the importance of the corpse and how we treat it. And they do it efficiently (not many pages). Great book, whether from a religious perspective or not.

[Timothy Winterstein · Rating 2 out of 5]

Conspicuously absent is any specifically Christian reflection on the resurrection of the body, which certainly informs our understanding of death and our treatment of the dead