Tuesday, 3 March 2009

An alternative theology of reburial

I would like to draw your attention to an article written by a PFA member, An alternative theology of reburial which is part of a site called Ancient Britons: Honouring Our Ancestors By Remembering Them.
What of the remains? Do they hold the spirit of the dead? No. In my opinion they do not. They may retain an echo or an imprint, but the spirit has gone, the person has left and what remains is essentially a golem, a physical shadow of the person who once was. Perhaps it was this echo or memory held within the bones that our Neolithic ancestors were hoping to remain in touch with when they continued access and handling of the bones of the dead. Perhaps it was their way of remembering them, their lives and theirs stories. That being the case, our way of retaining and displaying human remains would not be entirely alien to them.

1 comment:

Lee said...

thanks for the plug. i must get around to doing some more of the pieces i have planned and underway.