From a netfriend

A Baptist friend of mine, Dr. Paul Sheppy, is about to publish a comprehensive liturgical theology of funeral rites, in two volumes. A splendid contribution in a much-neglected area, I suspect these works will be of interest to us all. Publishing details are below.

Death Liturgy and Ritual

Volume 1 – A liturgical and pastoral theology ISBN 07546 05795 (hbk) 07546 05809(pbk)

Volume II – A commentary on liturgical texts ISBN 07546 38995 (hbk) 07546 39002 (pbk)

This major two-volume study of Christian funerary theology and practice offers an account of the issues its author regards as central for the compilers and users of funeral rites. It arises from direct experience of conducting funerals and of drafting liturgical resources for others.

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the Christian Church continues to minister to the dying and the bereaved. However, it does so in a rapidly changing world. The traditional understandings of death and life after death are challenged by the disciplines of medicine, the law, philosophy, psychology and anthropology.

In Volume I, Dr Sheppy argues that the Church ought to construct its theological agenda in dialogue with these fields of study. He contends for a Christian statement about death that finds its basis in the Paschal Mystery, since human death must be explained by reference to Jesus’ death, descent to the dead,and resurrection. Using the three phases of van Gennep’s theory of rites of passage, the author shows how the Easter triduum may be seen as normative for Christian liturgies of death.

Volume II reviews a wide range of current Christian funeral rites and examines how they reflect both the Church’s concern for the death and resurrection of Christ and the contemporary secular demand for funerals which celebrate the life of the deceased.

Publication Dates Volume 1: November/December 2003 Volume II: January/February 2004

Probable Price (per volume) Hardback:  £40 Paperback:  £16

Gordon W. Lathrop (Charles A. Schieren Professor at the Lutheran Theological Seminary, Philadelphia) writes:

With these volumes, Paul Sheppy has done a great service for all the churches. By setting side-by-side many of the currently influential and currently used English-language texts for Christian liturgy at death, he helps us to see our common pastoral task much more clearly. By setting out the communal process of death and by gently analyzing funeral texts according to their awareness of that process, he calls us to a stronger celebration of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the context for all such liturgical ministry. No other such resource exists, broad in its ecumenical reach, centered in its theological vision.