06 Feb The Good Funeral: Death, Grief and the Community of Care
Thomas Lynch (poet, author of The Undertaking: Life Studies from the Dismal Trade)
Thomas Long (Candler School of Theology, Emory University)
Thursday, February 6, 2014 / 5:00 PM
Lotte Lehmann Concert Hall, UCSB Music Building
In the authors’ book, The Good Funeral: Death, Grief and the Community of Care, two of the most authoritative voices on the funeral industry come together here to discuss the current state of the funeral. Through their different lenses–one as a preacher and one as a funeral director–Thomas G. Long and Thomas Lynch alternately discuss several challenges facing “the good funeral,” including the commercial aspects that have led many to be suspicious of funeral directors, the sometimes tense relationship between pastors and funeral directors, the tendency of modern funerals to exclude the body from the service, and the rapid growth in cremation.
Courtesy of Chaucer’s Books, copies of The Good Funeral will be available for purchase and signing.
Sponsored by the IHC series The Value of Care, the IHC’s Idee Levitan Endowment, and the Walter H. Capps Center for the Study of Ethics, Religion, and Public Life.
Click here to listen to a recording of Thomas Lynch’s talk for the IHC’s Value of Care series.