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Corpse Care
Ethics for Tending the Dead
By: Cody J. Sanders and Mikeal C. Parsons
150 Pages
- Hardcover
- ISBN: 9781506471310
- Published By: Fortress Press
- Published: January 2023
$26.00
A rather slim volume, Corpse Care: Ethics for Tending the Dead by Cody J. Sanders and Mikeal C. Parsons is nevertheless a dense reconsideration of a long-neglected subject. Although most religious discussions around death concern what happens to the soul after passing, the authors of this work are more interested in what happens to the “body-now-dead.” Christians, they argue, have largely ignored this discussion, and have outsourced the issue to a professionalized and industrialized business of dealing with corpses. Sanders and Parsons argue this has been a mistake because Christians should care about the corpses left behind. “The corpse,” they write, is “a theological subject” (xii). It therefore demands intense and serious religious consideration. Since everyone eventually becomes a corpse, their theology goes, we must fulfill certain ethical, political, and environmental responsibilities in relation to it. The authors have produced a well-researched but sometimes incomplete argument for why the corpse matters and why Christians should care.
The book is divided into four chapters. The first two provide a history of the deathways (the associated traditions and practices associated with death and dying) among Christians, from the earliest followers of Jesus to 21st –century practitioners. The third chapter attempts to offer a theological meditation on treatment of the dead. The final chapter delivers practical suggestions regarding deathways, and in particular the specific methods of corpse disposal—different types of burials, cremations, and composting solutions.
The historical sections of the first half of the book are the strongest, and Sanders and Parsons should be commended for their succinct account of Christian deathways from antiquity to the present. Drawing upon a rich historiography of death and dying (like Erik Seeman’s excellent work), the authors present an incredibly readable overview of the manner in which corpses were tended. The first chapter covers corpse care by Jesus’ earliest followers, which included washing, anointing, and swaddling. Processionals preceded burials and mourning followed them. This is the way even non-elites cared for corpses, and the Roman elite, with greater resources at their disposal, deployed more extravagant variations on these steps. “Corpses,” they write, “deserved proper disposal. But the manner of disposal could vary” (11). Also fascinating is the change between the deathways of the early Christians in the 3rd century, who were largely against corpse mutilation, to the Church practices of the 12th century, where acquisition, sharing, and veneration of relics required dismemberment of the corpse (16).
Sanders and Parsons also demonstrate the inherently political nature of corpses and deathways, especially if they were interrupted. This is best demonstrated in the context of Native American and European conflicts, during which burial sites were destroyed, corpses mutilated, and traditional deathways suspended. “Nothing bespeaks absolute chaos in the lives of a people like unburied corpses,” the authors contend (19). This was particularly true in the American Civil War, when the distance between the corpse and its family led to technological developments like embalming, which became increasingly popular. However, this was at first only affordable to wealthy families, demonstrating that class was ever-present, even after death.
With the absence of a viewable body for most families, the 19th century also saw the separation of the spirit from the corpse, and as a consequence attention and reverence was becoming more associated with the spirit. The loss of reverence for the corpse led to a number of other developments, such as the professionalization of deathcare and an increase in the efficiency of the war machine, which no longer had to pause for piety. The result was that “the corpse lost much of its imaginative potential,” and instead acquired “economic value and professional oversight” (46). As the 19th century turned into the 20th, this trend grew, and cremations were both introduced and increased significantly. These two manners of disposal (cremation and embalming) necessitated a dedicated industry that produced machines, chemicals, and specialized caskets/coffins. By the 21st century, Sanders and Parsons argue, the Church had essentially abdicated its control over the dead to a professional class often controlled by multinational conglomerates interested in profit instead of theology.
The reader will be challenged by the second half of the book, which builds on the history outlined in the first half. Chapter 3 focuses on cremation and embalming, while chapter 4 suggests some practical solutions and asks some thought-provoking questions. However, their arguments never seriously engage opposing views. One of the major themes in this second half is environmentalism. Sanders and Parsons are very concerned with the earth, and believe many Christians fall into theological error when thinking about it. The authors insist that Genesis 1:28, which usually reads “humankind was to ‘have dominion over’ every living thing,” is mistranslated (64). A better rendition of that verse, they write, is that people must “‘work and serve” the earth, or “‘preserve and observe it’” (64). A theological belief in human supremacy over nature “hinge[s] on the aforementioned faulty reading of Genesis 1” (72). Instead, they argue, “earth speaks, earth desires, earth responds” (67). This observation leads to their pragmatic solutions for how to dispose of the dead. They offer a few suggestions that they argue will not “subvert the process of decay” (84), and will have smaller carbon footprints than cremation, such as natural burial (without embalming chemicals), water cremation (properly called alkaline hydrolysis), and human composting.
One shortcoming of the book is that the authors never consider that the view of human supremacy over nature has defenders, and they should have been addressed. Additionally, Sanders and Parsons claim that Christian tradition does not consider the theology of corpse care generally, but such discourse can be found, for example, in the Catholic tradition. Pope John Paul II’s lectures on “The Theology of the Body” from 1979-1984 considers these questions, and as recently as 2016 has even issued clarification on how cremated human remains must be treated. “Churches,” the authors write in their conclusion, “do not know how to talk about the body theologically, much less the dead body,” (105). Many of these issues might have been rectified by a review of potential rebuttals.
Despite the weaknesses in the second half, this work is worthwhile and well-conceived. The authors have established that the corpse matters, and that Christians should care.
Ian S. Wilson is a PhD candidate in history at the University of New Hampshire.
Ian WilsonDate Of Review:September 26, 2023
The Rev. Cody J. Sanders, Ph.D., is pastor to Old Cambridge Baptist Church in Harvard Square; the American Baptist Chaplain to Harvard University; and Advisor for LGBTQ+ Affairs in the Office of Religious, Spiritual, and Ethical Life at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is Affiliated Assistant Professor of Pastoral Theology & Chaplaincy Studies at Chicago Theological Seminary.
Mikeal C. Parsons is Professor and Macon Chair in Religion at Baylor University, where he has taught since 1986. He has authored, co-authored, or edited more than twenty-five books and numerous articles and essays. With Heidi J. Hornik, Parsons co-wrote the Illuminating Luke trilogy (T & T Clark). He also co-authored the Baylor handbook on the Greek Text of Luke and Acts and published commentaries on Luke and Acts in the Paideia Series, which he co-edits.