THE ECLIPSE OF ETERNITY

THE ECLIPSE OF ETERNITY

Also by Tony Walter ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE A LONG WAY FROM HOME: An Exploration of Contemporary Idolatry BASIC INCOME: Freedom from Poverty, Freedom to Work FAIR SHARES? An Ethical Guide to Tax and Social Security Reform FUNERALS-AND HOW TO IMPROVE THEM HOPE ON THE DOLE PILGRIMAGE IN POPULAR CULTURE (co-editor with Ian Reader) SENT AWAY: A Study of Young Offenders in Care THE HUMAN HOME: The Myth of the Sacred Environment THE REVIVAL OF DEATH

The Eclipse of Eternity A Sociology of the Afterlife Tony Walter Lecturer Department of Sociology University of Reading

First published in Great Britain 1996 by MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 978-1-349-39264-3 DOI 10.1057/9780230379770 ISBN 978-0-230-37977-0 (ebook) First published in the United States of America 1996 by ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC., Scholarly and Reference Division, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 ISBN 978-1-312-15933-7 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data applied for Tony Walter 1996 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1996 978-0-333-61614-7 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the tem1s of any licence pem1itting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London WI P 9HE. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4.3 2 05 04 03 02 01 00 99 98

In memory of one who lived each day in the light of eternity KathyKeay 8.7.1954-24.12.1994

Mortality is ours for the asking- but immortality is something we must build ourselves. (Zygmunt Bauman, Mortality, Immortality and Other Life Strategies, 1992, p. 1) At some point in the nineteen-sixties, Hell disappeared. No one could say for certain when this happened. First it was there, then it wasn't. Different people became aware of the disappearance of Hell at different times. Some realised that they had been living for years as though Hell did not exist, without having consciously registered its disappearance. Others realised that they had been behaving, out of habit, as though Hell were still there, though in fact they had ceased to believe in its existence long ago. By Hell we mean, of course, the traditional Hell of Roman Catholics, a place where you would burn for all eternity if you were unlucky enough to die in a state of mortal sm. On the whole, the disappearance of Hell was a great relief, though it brought new problems. (David Lodge, How Far Can rou Go?, 1981, p. 113) Hel1 is probably the hardest of a11 Christian teachings to accept. (Billy Graham, Facing Death and the Life After, 1987, p. 219) Belief in life after death, along with the whole mythology of heaven, hell and resurrection, has become an optional extra of modern Christian life. (Bryan Turner, Religion and Social Theory, 1991, p. 235) What do I believe happens when I die? To tell the truth this is something I think about hardly at all. (Mrs Mary Whitehouse, campaigner for Christian morality)

Contents Introduction The Afterlife: A Theological Survey 9 2 The Afterlife: Popular Beliefs Today 27 3 Secularisation and the Terror of Death 49 4 Idealist and Materialist Explanations 69 5 Medicine: the Secularisation of Hope 79 6 The Secularisation of Ritual: Funerals and Burials 91 7 The Secularisation of Ritual: Cremation and Dissection 103 8 Loss: The Secularisation of Meaning 117 9 Retrospect and Prospect 131 10 Pastoral Care 137 II Heavens on Earth 149 12 Ethics without Eternity 161 13 The Reappearance of the Hereafter 173 14 The Eclipse of Eternity 191 Notes and References 197 Select Bibliography 201 Bibliography 203 Index 215 VII

List of Tables 1.1 Religious Community Size, Britain 1992 13 2.1 Religious Belief, Europe and the USA 32 2.2 Belief in Ghosts in Relation to Age 42 2.3 Belief in Life after Death, by Religion, USA, 1978 47 7.1 Cremation Worldwide, 1992 106 7.2 Cremation in the USA 107 Vlll

Acknowledgements I thank Valerie Levin, Peter Jupp and Ralph Houlbrooke for carefully reading the first draft, and for their invaluable and detailed comments. What has resulted is, of course, my responsibility alone. Thank you also to Su Brown, librarian at Trinity College, Bristol, and to Denise Brady, librarian at St Christopher's Hospice, London, for their ever cheerful production of books and information. TONY WALTER IX