The Meanings of Death (Canto original series)

US: Cambridge University Press, 1993. Good. In The Meanings of Death, John Bowker offers a major contribution to debate s about the value of death and its place in both Western and Eastern religi ons. Examining the themes of friendship and sacrifice in the world's major religions, Bowker argues that there are points of vital contact with secula r understandings of death, and that religious and secular attitudes can sup port and reinforce one another. An affirmative recovery of the value of dea th is important in our response to bereavement, and in the treatment of the terminally ill. By indicating how value can be maintained at the limit of life, without a search for illusory compensation in an afterlife beyond it, Bowker enriches our experience and understanding of the 'final question' i n a way which is always sensitive and often moving.