Death (Theology notes) continues

Theology of death and dying - individual death - Lane (Vermont) - Western secular culture. Life Expectancy has increased - change in which death occurs - medical postpones. Hospitals keep people alive. Hospice - it is ok to die. Death is moved from family to institutions. From wakes to funeral homes. A lot of commendation around death (sales pitch). Care of dying out of the community. We still are not sure what to do with it. Sophia present in the creation, Holy Spirit and in the Church. Therefore what is she and how is she related? Why is it feminine and what is the significant. These are about past, present and future. He distinguishes prophesy from the apocalyptic. According to Nolan, how do we understand? Drama of our Christian existence past - past prophesy - for a specific context about the future parousia is reference second coming of Christ. Into institution: eg. Black Foot - Street person, 20 years earlier, Church filled - now private rather than community. We have a notion of massive death - WW2, Russians under Stalin, Holocaust, nuclear bomb, Hiroshima. I am going to add Ukraine (not from notes). There is a morbid fascination as apposed to denial of death. Movies are low on Christology eg. Christ of Montreal - hits someone. Common: 1. Death is received as separation of death and soul. Incarnation - bind body and spirit and mind - death is the whole person. He could be our limited - end of time wherever - united with the soul. 2. Death and dying has five stages. 3. Natural - can happen any time. It is going to happen to all - natural/unnatural. 4. Body is diminishing as spirit develops. (Roger Trois Fortaines, S.S. I Do Not Die. Lane - Proper response to death is hope. There is no need to resent youth because they are going to get old. Finality - time to think about death. A human person is towards death. We don’t have a choice to be here. Try holding your breath. There are physical things keeping us alive, saying it is going to be ok because we don’t know. Is there life after death? Doesn’t tell us much about life after death. Death is a decision. Death is expected - caregiving. Death that is unexpected is tragic. Part of human life is looking for fulfillment. Activity of dying, finality of death is expectant. Death is the last of personal history. New relation with the Creator. (What I have in my notes is “keep an open mind, but not so open that your brain falls out”. I am not sure if that is a quote from the prof or whoever, but I think it is a good one, so I placed it here.) A book regarding different religions about deaths is The Meaning of Death by John Boker (no, I didn’t read it). Next portion of theology is Hell and Purgatory. Let’s take a breath and go onto another topic.