Routledge Companion to Death and Dying

Death and dying represent profound and universal human experiences that demand ongoing scholarly attention and interdisciplinary dialogue. The Routledge Companion to Death and Dying offers a comprehensive examination of how humanity understands, confronts, and finds meaning in mortality, with particular emphasis on situating death within the contexts of comparative religion and spiritual traditions. This second edition features fifty-four chapters by international experts, including substantially revised content reflecting recent advances in the field, retained chapters where the original scholarship remains authoritative, and two entirely new contributions. The new chapters expand Orthodox Jewish perspectives on death and dying, and provide contemporary analysis of the evolving legal and ethical dimensions of assisted dying.The volume is organized into six major sections exploring:· religious traditions and their approaches to death, dying, and the afterlife;· shared concepts and practices across belief systems;· phenomenological experiences claiming evidence of consciousness beyond death;· the dying process from perspectives of both the dying and the bereaved;· ethical concerns including abortion, martyrdom, suicide, murder, and illness;· anthropological, archaeological, philosophical, existential, and cultural representations of mortality.This interdisciplinary collection draws on expertise from history, philosophy, literature, psychology, archaeology, anthropology, folklore studies, and religious studies. Coverage spans major world religions—Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism—alongside emerging and alternative movements including Spiritualism, Latter-day Saints, and Raëlianism. Each contributor maintains their distinctive scholarly voice while collectively demonstrating how diverse methodologies and ideologies can engage in meaningful dialogue about humanity's most fundamental concern. This companion serves as an indispensable resource for students and researchers in religious studies, philosophy, literature, psychology, and the growing field of death studies.