Beschreibung
Funeral rites help people to cope with their loss and express their
religious needs. Even in a secularised society such as that in the
Netherlands large groups of people still fall back on ecclesiastic rites
when a loved one dies. But how does one explain that there are more people
participating in church funerals than people who assign religion a focal
place in their lives? How do present-day funeral-goers regard the rites in
which they participate? Does the rite actually help them to bridge the
gaps left by the deceased? This study considers such questions from the
angle of ritual and liturgical studies by way of empirical research into
perceptions of present-day church funerals in the Netherlands.
Thomas Quartier (1972) teaches ritual and liturgical studies at the
Faculty of Religious Studies and the Faculty of Theology of the Radboud
University Nijmegen (The Netherlands).
