Introduction

For a project of this size, I have chosen to keep my introductory remarks brief. A volume such as this one strives to provide as wide a coverage of its topic as possible, and with fifty-two chapters, a lot of ground is indeed covered. Still, there is always much more to be said, especially on a topic as profound and universal as death and dying. With my own background in the study of comparative religion, a core focus of the current companion is on the situating of death in the contexts of religions. Certainly, the history of religion is also a history of ways of understanding death and of meaning-making in the face of human mortality. While the first section of essays are explicit in their outlining of specific religious beliefs and practices relating to death, dying, and the afterlife, many, if not all, of the rest of the essays in this book must address religious and spiritual issues as well, such as the matter of death itself. Of course, however broad a spectrum I have aimed to cover, it is impossible to ensure that every aspect of death can be discussed and every scholarly perspective provided voice. I have strived to be not only inter-religious but also inter-disciplinary, selecting experts across a range of disciplines and with an array of perspectives both academic and personal. Each author is here being permitted to speak in their own individual voice, while the collection as a whole can stand as testament to possibilities for conversations across ideologies and methodologies both religious and academic.