Making Sense of Death: Spiritual,Pastoral, and Personal Aspects of Death,Dying and Bereavement [Hardcover]

The editors of Making Sense of Death: Spiritual, Pastoral, and Personal Aspects of Death, Dying and Bereavement provide stimulating discussions as they ponder the meaning of life and death.This anthology explores the process of meaning-making in the face of death and the roles of religion and spirituality at times of loss; the profound and devastating experience of loss in the death of a spouse or a child; a psychological model of spirituality; the dimensions of spirituality; humor in client-caregiver relationships; the worldview of modernity in contrast to postmodern assumptions; the Buddhist perspective of death, dying, and pastoral care; meaning-making in the virtual reality of cyberspace; individualism and death; and the historical context of Native Americans, the concept of disenfranchised grief, and its detailed application to the Native American experience.It also explores: a qualitative survey on the impact of the shooting deaths of students in Colorado; a team approach with physicians, nursing, social services, and pastoral care; a study of health care professionals, comparing clergy with other health professionals; marginality in spiritual and pastoral care for the dying; a qualitative research study of registered nurses in the northeast United States; and loss and growth in the seasons of life.

Acknowledgments 

Preface 

Introduction Herman H. van der Kloot Meijburg and Robert A. Bendiksen 

SECTION I Facing the Death of a Loved One

CHAPTER 1 The Role of Spiritual Experience in Adapting to Bereavement Louis A. Gamino, Larry W. Easterling, and Kenneth W. Sewell

CHAPTER 2 The Death of a Spouse: A Spiritual and Psychological Crisis Susan J. Zonnebelt-Smeenge and Robert C. DeVries

CHAPTER 3 For Those Who Stand and Wait Kent Koppelman

SECTION II Meaning-Making in the Face of Death