The Good Funeral: Death, Grief, and the Community of Care

Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Two of the most authoritative voices on the funeral industry come together here in one volume to discuss the current state of the funeral. Through their different lenses--one as a preacher and one as a funeral director--Thomas G. Long and Thomas Lynch alternately discuss several challenges facing "the good funeral," including the commercial aspects that have led many to be Two of the most authoritative voices on the funeral industry come together here in one volume to discuss the current state of the funeral.

Long and Thomas Lynch alternately discuss several challenges facing "the good funeral," including the commercial aspects that have led many to be suspicious of funeral directors, the sometimes tense relationship between pastors and funeral directors, the tendency of modern funerals to exclude the body from the service, and the rapid growth in cremation. It is an essential resource for funeral directors, morticians, and pastors, and anyone else interested in current funeral practices. Hardcover , pages.

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about The Good Funeral , please sign up. Lists with This Book. This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Dec 08, John rated it it was amazing. Any seminarian can pick up a Book of Common Worship or funeral handbook, and stumble through the basics of planning and leading a worship service at times of death.

But deeper questions about why we do the things we do often go unanswered or even unexamined. This book answers some of those questions. Tom Long was my preaching professor at Princeton Seminary, whose writing and conference speaking has guided my ministry for decades. Either alone writes with wisdom and grace, but put them together in one book, and you have a magnificent dialogue that ends up feeling like an authoritative classic on the topic addressed. Then they point out the way the Mitfordian Movement has pushed us in another direction that has led many to deal with death in spiritually and emotionally impoverished ways.

That Mitford could write her text, and not mention the tragic deaths of her first husband and two young children, and, apparently, was no better in processing grief with her surviving family members, is a case study example that waves a red flag at us. What if we adopted the practices of other cultures by including in the final journey funeral pyres around which families and friends celebrate liturgical traditions? Oct 11, M Christopher rated it liked it Shelves: I had moderate expectations of this book which increased greatly after I read the first few chapters.

Lynch and Long are good writers and interesting people as revealed in those early chapters in which they take turns introducing themselves, how they became fascinated by the business and theology of funerals, and their basic approach to the subject. Unfortunately, much of the rest of the book was a disappointment. Theological ideas were never fleshed out, disdain for current practices was harped I had moderate expectations of this book which increased greatly after I read the first few chapters. Theological ideas were never fleshed out, disdain for current practices was harped upon without much in the way of suggested correction, both authors spent far too much time blaming Jessica Mitford and her "The American Way of Death" for leading people astray.

I will probably refer to the book occasionally for insights into how to bring best practices into my own ministry but the gems here are too thinly spread to consider it pardon the mixed metaphor a "gold mine. Apr 08, Seth Channell rated it it was ok. Not an evangelical view of death and the afterlife, but argues that funerals should be public to honor the dead and help those left behind know how to live.

1. The Good Funeral (Hardback).
2. The Good Funeral Hardback - Thomas G. Long, Thomas Lynch : Westminster John Knox Press.
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Book would be more helpful it it contained ideas on how to respond to the issues both authors see with current trends in funerals. Aug 03, Elisa rated it it was amazing. The best convergence of pastoral care and practical theology - grief, loss, counseling, death, hope - I have ever read. Oct 01, Robert D. Cornwall rated it it was amazing Shelves: They have been writing for many years separately and together about the way we deal with the dead.

They decry the disembodied nature of the contemporary attempts to deal with death -- making much of the absence of the body from funerals. They find this deeply problematic in a variety of ways. What they write here I've read in parts by them elsewhere, in places like the Christian Century. I've resisted what they write, in part because even though many of the services I have conducted lacked a body, I have tried to keep a good balance between making place for grief and celebrating the life.

We've not had any golf-themed services. I'm proud of the services I've performed and I have been commended for them by family, attendees, and funeral directors. I'm still not convinced the body must be present for a good funeral -- and I do much the same thing whether the body is present or not -- but I do think this is a book that all clergy need to wrestle with. I didn't give it five stars because I'm in complete agreement. I gave it five stars because it is forcing me to deal with the nature of death and our desire, of recent vintage, to make it a private affair.

A statement that continues to appear and reappear throughout the book sums up the good funeral in this way: Mar 11, Brenda Funk rated it really liked it. I may not have chosen this book to read anytime soon, although the topic does interest me, but it is one of our 'Take and Read' book choices, to be read by next week's class. It is co-written by Thomas Lynch, a funeral director, and Thomas G. Long, a preacher and theologian. Both of them lament the loss of the funeral in our day, being replaced by the 'memorial service' and 'celebration of life' that we see these days.

Thomas Lynch decries the use of machinery to fill in the grave in the absence of loved ones On the other hand, the book was strangely enjoyable to read, despite its morose subject matter.

Two of the most trusted names in their respective professions share the wisdom of their tandem journey in hope that they might draw clergy and funeral directors back down to earth. Indeed, this indispensible book is accessible to clergy and layperson alike despite its foreboding front cover, which puts the reader in the unenviable position of looking up into the sky from the bottom of a freshly dug grave. See also, Thomas G. Westminster John Knox Press, Long and Thomas Lynch Louisville: The Wild Edge of Sorrow: Customers who bought this item also bought.

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Coughing as I was, and contemplating my inevitable journey to the edge of mystery, a New Year's Eve completion of this book seemed a good way to end After 27 years as a clergyperson, I've had many opportunities for such contemplation. Any seminarian can pick up a Book of Common Worship or funeral handbook, and stumble through the basics of planning and leading a worship service at times of death. But deeper questions about why we do the things we do often go unanswered or even unexamined.

This book answers some of those questions.

The Good Funeral: Death, Grief, and the Community of Care | PracticalMattersJournal

Thomas Lynch is an undertaker I think he might actually prefer that term to "funeral director" who works near the territory in which I grew up and was schooled. Tom Long was my preaching professor at Princeton Seminary, whose writing and conference speaking has guided my ministry for decades.

You can look up their biographies, so I needn't say more about them. Either alone writes with wisdom and grace, but put them together in one book, and you have a magnificent dialogue that ends up feeling like an authoritative classic on the topic addressed.

The Good Funeral: Death, Grief, and the Community of Care

I will venture to call the book a post-mitfordian text, in the sense that the authors are not just carrying on a dialogue with one another, but also debating the work, influence, and lingering effects of Jessica Mitford's The American Way of Death. They acknowledge the abuses Mitford exposed, and bemoan the damage that undertakers and ministers imposed on themselves by buying into America's commercialization of death. Then they point out the way the Mitfordian Movement has pushed us in another direction that has led many to deal with death in spiritually and emotionally impoverished ways.

That Mitford could write her text, and not mention the tragic deaths of her first husband and two young children, and, apparently, was no better in processing grief with her surviving family members, is a case study example that waves a red flag at us.

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Theologically, Tom Long's anti-gnostic emphasis, which has grown more pronounced in recent years, is on full display. What happens, or doesn't happen, to the bodies of the dead tells us much about what we believe about life and death, what we think of ourselves as a society. Again, as others have said in a pithy way, "matter matters. But when you imagine the theology reflected in contemporary practice, it's usually not satisfying: Lynch and Long don't major in ridicule, but when they do it effectively makes a point, e. What if we adopted the practices of other cultures by including in the final journey funeral pyres around which families and friends celebrate liturgical traditions?

There's a picture to ponder. This is the thread that runs through the entire book written by Thomas Lynch and Thomas Long. Both are writers and authors of many books. Long is Presbyterian minister and Lynch an Irish Catholic funeral director. He recognizes the incongruity of his occupation and his avocation.