A Thanatological Methodoly: Religions, Death and Afterlife

In freshly studying a religious tradition with a thanatological lens, a two-layered survey of questions, first general, and then particular, will assist in the placement of the tradition - in terms of how it treats death - on a relative continuum. Thus placed, comparison will be made the more easy. The thanatologist, however, will also need to pursue an understanding of the origin and reasons for the details highlighted by such a survey. Hopefully in the course of pinpointing the details themselves, an understanding of their antecedent causes may begin to develop.

It should be noted that these layers of questioning could be applied in the order opposite that which has been chosen here. If it seemed suitable or advantageous to the thanatologist, he may seek to tally the particulars of orthodoxy and orthopraxy before examining the deeper undercurrents of influence upon them. In outlining the two layers, establishment of understanding of those general influences has been prioritized, so that such understanding will be kept in mind while one takes inventory of the details. The two should segue fairly well into one another whatever their order, in any case.

***
I. The General Layer - Religion and Art
The first layer of questions are characterized by Vermeule's Death in Early Greek Art and Poetry. Their object is not necessarily to determine specific details of the tradition's idea systems and practices regarding death (with which the second layer will be entirely concerned), but to establish a sense of how those beliefs and practices are formed and continually influenced. Of especial interest in this layer as here formulated is the influence of art on the tradition, but similar questions of influence could be raised: the influential relationship of religion and modern science, for example. Here, with an eye to being the most generally applicable (and with an eye to being soon applied to ancient China), the relation of art, as in Vermeule's work, has been maintained.

A. What is the relationship of art and orthodoxy?
This question might be more precisely put 'Who has influenced the development of beliefs about death?' Or, more colloquially: 'The poet or the priest?' Vermeule made a clear case that Greek beliefs about death and the afterlife, as they seem to have been commonly held, proceeded more from the epic poet's imagination than from the gods' priests putting forth supposedly orthodox idea systems. On the other hand, in the case of the Catholic Church, for example, clergy and theologians determining orthodoxy is precisely what goes on. Intermediate examples, of course, are possible: the popular Christian ideas about the war in Heaven, the fallen angels becoming pagan gods, and even the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Life and Death being an apple arise largely from Milton's Paradise Lost. Therefore, rather than try to classify a tradition's thanatological orthodoxy (if one be found) as entirely the poet's or the priest's work, one should try to find out to what degree the tradition tends one way or another.

B. What is the relationship of orthodoxy and orthopraxy?
Having established the degree of influence of art (or science, or whatever is in question) upon thanatological orthodoxy, the effect of those ideas on the tradition's actual funerary and remembrance practices must be examined. Do burial rites adhere to orthodoxical guidelines, is there prescribed mourning and remembrance, and the like, with an orthodox idea system backing it? Or, on the other end of the spectrum, are funeral rites and mourning relatively unregulated, or at least not strictly bound, by ideas about death and afterlife? An example of the first is most definitely the Chinese ancestral cult; the second was probably evident in the burials of ancient Greece which with Vermeule is concerned, but is today quite visible in the various liberal post-protestant Christian sects (as evidenced in Johnson and McGee's book, which will be mentioned again below).

It should be noted that, at least in the case of art and religion, question B may form a circular relationship with question A, in that the orthopraxy of death may include the creation of works of art which themselves can become an influence on the body of orthodox ideas. The usual depiction of angels in the Christian traditions, for instance, as two-winged humans bears little resemblance to the descriptions of angels in the Bible, which was the literary source for the idea of angels in the first place.

II. The Particular Layer - Beliefs and Practices
Here one seeks to simply catalogue the subject tradition's ideas and practices, as is neatly done for nineteen traditions in Johnson and McGee's How Different Religions View Death and Afterlife. Focusing on things that have been points of contention between traditions - proverbial rocks in the river - is the approach taken below, with the goal in mind of placing the subject tradition in the continuum relative to others. Having done so, points of particular interest to the thanatologist may be examined in further detail - for example, the material culture of death in the subject tradition: coffins, memorials, things buried with the dead, &c.

A. What are the beliefs about death and afterlife?
The proverbial rocks are the subcategories for this question; below are only a few rather generic examples.

• Death itself: is it viewed positively or negatively, on the whole or in part? Is it considered the end of a single life, or a transition to another, be it rebirth in the world or awakening to a spiritual afterlife? Is there held to be an ultimate eschaton (escape from cyclic reincarnation, resurrection, &c.)?
• Afterlife: are there heaven(s) and hell(s)? Are they places of eternal abode, or can they be escaped? Is the afterlife a place of continued mental or spiritual development or a court of reward and retribution for one's deeds in life?
• Materialism: what, if any, is the connection between the body and the soul or psyche? What form does the self take after death? What is the physicality of the afterlife?
• Those remaining among the living: what are the details and reasons for various funerary practices? Are offerings or prayers for the dead effective? What, if any, interaction may take place between the living and the dead? Are the bodies of the dead holy (as in relics of Christian saints or the Buddha) or unclean (as the Old Testament or Zoroastrian doctrine maintain)?

B. What determines these beliefs and practices?
In a sense this second question has at least a similar objective as the general layer, in that it aims to identify the influences upon the subject tradition's orthodoxy and orthopraxy, such as they may or may not be. (Indeed, it is hoped that this question will serve to connect the particular and the general layers of questioning.) The key difference is that this question asks what the practitioners of the tradition drew and draw on to form and support their ideas and beliefs, whereas the general layer asks who or what is responsible for shaping that which is drawn upon. Vajrayana lamas, for instance, may refer to the Tibetan Book of the Dead to explain their forty-nine day funeral rite; this question B would need only know that the Book of the Dead has played a role in determining the funeral practice, while the general layer of questioning would ask after the origins of the Book of the Dead itself.

***
Having used this double-layered process of questioning, one may proceed to examine much more specifically individual aspects of the tradition's ideas about and practices concerning death. It is meant to be modular and general, allowing for a variety of lenses to be applied as desired, and is geared toward picking out through placement on the relative continuum of traditions those points, of possible difference or similarity, of interest to the thanatologist. And not just to the thanatologist: for though it be set forth as a thanatological tool here, it is hoped that the modular flexibility of the tool is such that the scholar of religion may adapt it to use with whatever lenses he please to facilitate a first assessment of any tradition.