Late anthropologist Ernest Becker outlined a theory that a major function of culture is to provide answers to the Big Questions people pose in relation to the uniquely human recognition of death and mortality. In Facing Up to Mortality, each chapter interacts with Becker's theory from the perspective of a religious tradition or academic discipline.

Exploring a new approach to interfaith/interreligious communication, the contributors to this collection seek to interact from the perspective of their own tradition or academic discipline with Ernest Becker's theory on the relationship between religion, culture and the human awareness of death and mortality. While much interfaith/interreligious dialogue focuses on beliefs and practices, thus delineating areas of disagreement as a starting point, these chapters foster interactive communication rooted in areas of the universal human experience. Thus by demonstration these authors argue for the integrity and efficacy of this approach for pursuing intercultural and interdisciplinary communication.

Introduction

Daniel Liechty

Chapter One:

God is Sometimes Great! The Glory and Shame of Religion

Sheldon Solomon and Spee Kosloff

Chapter Two:

The Nature of Consciousness:

A Nondual (Advaita) Dialogue with Ernest Becker

Anantanand Rambachan

Chapter Three:

Religion as Umbrella, Religion as Path:

A Buddhist Perspective on Death Denial and Life Transformation

David R. Loy

Chapter Four:

L’Dor v’Dor: The Intergenerational Style of Hebraic ‘Immortality’

Paul Cantz

Chapter Five:

Heroism, Sacrifice, and Jewish Identity:

Exploring Rabbinic Readings of the Esther Story

Jonathan Cohen

Chapter Six:

Naming Our Incompleteness:

A Christian Encounter with Ideas of Ernest Becker

Daniel Liechty

Chapter Seven:

Death, Self, and Political Survival in Islam and Islamicate Contexts

Anas Malik

Chapter Eight:

The Sacred Cosmos: Transcendence Without Absolutism

Merlyn E. Mowrey