How should Christians dispose of the bodies of their loved ones after death? Does the Bible give us authoritative guidance on this question, or are we free to decide on the basis of pragmatic arguments, or even personal taste?

Donald Howard is convinced that the Scriptures do give a clear answer to this question: ‘Burial alone has the endorsement of God’s Word, and that Word, not tradition, sentiment or custom, must direct us in both our living and our dying. It is the writer’s firm belief that burial alone gives specific testimony to the Christian doctrine of the resurrection of the dead.’

The author traces the history of burial through the Old Testament to the culminating example of Christ’s burial and resurrection, discusses the practice of cremation in the modern world, and gives wise counsel on the need to grieve and to plan for our own funeral. His whole approach is based on the glorious privilege of being united to Christ in His death, burial and resurrection.

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Donald Howard was minister of St Peter’s Church, Burwood East, NSW, when his wife Diana, at the age of forty, contracted cancer. She was to live a further six years, but, he writes, although through faith in Christ ‘we were prepared for death, I was ill-prepared for grief.’

This ill-preparedness, he found, arose from a lack of understanding, and two years later he wrote these pages for the help of others. They contain a blend of biblical, pastoral, and personal elements and serve to fill a gap on the subject of bereavement.

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