Overview

From the 1990s the British developed an interest in natural burial, also known as woodland, green, or ecological burial. Natural burial constitutes part of a long, historical legacy for British funeral innovation; from Victorian cemetery monuments and garden cemeteries through the birth and rise of cremation to the many things done with cremated remains. The book sets natural burial in the context of such creative dealing with death, grief, mourning, and the celebration of life. Themes from sociology and anthropology combine with psychological issues and theological ideas to show how human emotions take shape and help people consider their own death whilst also dealing with the death of those they love. The authors explore the variety of motivations for people to engage with natural burial and its popular appeal, using interviews with people having a relationship with one natural burial site created by the Church of England but open to all. They illustrate people's understandings of life and death in the sacred, secular and mixed worlds of modern Britain.

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9781441122964

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Reviews

'Davies and Rumble analyse natural burial and give it a spiritual re-brand through which they highlight the potentially meaningless death exemplified by conventional burial and cremation. Life-style and death-style are unified as environmental science is utilised to redefine the hitherto rotting corpse into an animate gift to nature, to fecundity, and to future generations.They challenge the very meaning of dead, challenge the church to create a new ecological litany, and challenge each of us to create our own life-death narrative. We must die to create a viable planet, but only if we utilise natural burial.' -- Ken West MBE, retired Bereavement Services Manager and author of A Guide to Natural Burial 'This important and original book traces and analyses the rapid rise of natural burial since its inception in Britain in 1993. It argues convincingly that the popularity of natural burial is associated with a distinctive mode of spirituality.' -- Professor Charles Watkins, University of Nottingham, UK 'Provides a brilliant and theoretically sound analysis of why this new choice next to conventional burial and cremation appeals to the British. Natural Burial is a must read for all students of comparative death studies.' -- Professor Eric Venbrux, Centre for Thanatology, Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands

Author Information

Douglas Davies is Professor in the Study of Religion and Director of Durham University's Centre for Death and Life Studies, UK. His numerous books on death and other aspects of Religious Studies reflect his combined skills as both Anthropologist of Religion and Theologian. Hannah Rumble is Lecturer in Anthropology at the University of Exeter, UK. She is also an Associate at the Centre for Death and Life Studies, University of Durham, UK, and Research Associate at the Centre for Death and Society, University of Bath, UK.

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