Abstract
This paper examines the history of Methodism, with an emphasis on death and dying and the evolution of the Methodist funeral through the years since Wesley.

From the Paper
"The Methodist tradition has much to say about death and dying. Both in Methodist history and in Methodism's beliefs about death, dying and the afterlife, the religion is one that addresses the prospect of death positively. Believing Methodists view death as an entrance to heaven and a blissful eternal life in the presence of God rather than as a passage to be feared. Nevertheless, from its early beginnings under John Wesley, the Methodist tradition, particularly with reference to funerals, has evolved substantially. This paper..."

Tags:Methodist, Wesley, Asbury, death, dying, funeral, scripture, Bible, Christian

Abstract
The paper is written from the first person perspective of someone who is both a social worker and a Muslim. The writer is a social worker who is discussing her perspective on death and dying, from the standpoint of her faith and her personal experiences; she recently lost two family members in an unspecified manner only six months before this paper was written.

From the Paper
"I believe that no matter what a person is taught about death and dying, his or her personal feelings and experiences are going to determine that person's feelings about those topics. A person's death, after all, is one of the most profoundly personal experiences there is in life. While other people can actively help someone with the act of coming into this life, in most cases the same person approaches death alone. Although everyone has these feelings and experiences, however, not everyone has the luxury of being able to let them affect the manner in which they live their life or..."

Tags:death, dying, muslim

Abstract
This paper takes a look at the different family members, their individual relationships, and how a death in the family forever changes them in the novel "As I Lay Dying."

From the paper:

"Self-interest is what drives the characters in this novel, and self-interest is what destroys them as moral human beings. This aspect is what turned this story into a tragedy. There is a decent level of intellect within the minds of certain characters, but they are still nothing more and nothing less than a poor, southern, white trash family. That is all they will ever be, for their own selfishness and arrogance is what keeps them from evolving as human beings."

Tags:dying, layfamily, death, town

Abstract
This paper deals with death and dying and the decisions that have to be made at such a time. It deals with advance directives and surrogates and substitutes who make these decisions when the patient is no longer able. It looks at the patient's rights and how the ultimate decision on treatment is theirs. The writer also discusses how important advance directives are to ensure their wishes are followed, if they are unable to speak for themselves.

From the Paper
"Elizabeth Kubler-Ross is credited with introducing the subject of death and dying as a legitimate subject for discussion in medical circles and the community as a whole and her book 'On Death and Dying' is required reading in most major nursing and medical schools. Kubler-Ross, herself a physician, began her pioneering work with the terminally ill at the University of Colorado Medical Center in Denver and her interest in death and dying was sparked by a visit to a concentration camp where thousands of children ... "

Tags:death, dying, decision-making

Abstract
The paper explains the causes and effects of racism in the South of the 1940's, as described in the book "A Lesson Before Dying" by Ernest Gaines.

From the Paper
""Cause and Effect, A Lesson Before Dying" describes the tension in the lives of African-Americans during the 1940's in the South. It describes the systematic forms of racism that characterized life in the South. This systematic racism includes providing substandard education to black children and systematically excluding blacks from good paying jobs."

Tags:cause and effect, a lesson before dying, racism, Jim Crow, South

Abstract
This paper is an analysis of the themes of the novel, "As I Lay Dying" by W. Faulkner. It looks at Faulkner's creation of an innovative structure to tell his story that reinforces the novel's major themes. The paper also looks at the use of multiple narratives of different narrators.

From the Paper
"Expanding on the modernist tradition of utilizing stream-of-consciousness narratives to capture human consciousness and perceptions of reality, Faulkner created an innovative structure in his compelling rendition of the transportation of Addie Bundren's ..."

Tags:As I Lay Dying, W. Faulkner

Abstract
This paper presents a review and analysis of Norma Fields' 1991 book, "In the Realm of a Dying Emperor", which presents a meditation on Emperor Hirohito's death.

From the Paper
The "Realm of a Dying Emperor", by Norma Field, presents a meditation on Hirohito's death in the atmosphere that prevailed in Japan during this death. Within this context the deaths in the Pacific War and the death of the quality of life in daily routines were also examined. The book presents three vignettes: a supermarket owner, a man who lived in Okinawa and fired the national flag, a woman who rejected the state's burial of her husband who had been a member of the Self-Defense Force..."

Tags:in the realm of a dying emperor, norma field

Abstract
This paper aims to illustrate the importance of meaning making processes in the dying individual, the role religion/spirituality plays in coping with dying and bereavement, and includes a plea for future collaborations between psychologists and pastoral and spiritual counselors. The pastoral or spiritual counselor is the guardian of the dying and thereby, the author underscores, has an obligation to promote their desires. After a literary review, the paper concludes that most research in this area is presumptuous and lacks credible findings upon which to base a future research inquiry.

Table of Contents:
Introduction
Family Systems
A Study in Anticipatory Grief and Marriage
The Unexpected Death
Additional Issues in Anticipatory Grief
Ambiguous Loss
Diagnosis, Prognosis, and Anticipatory Grief in the Dying
Forgiveness and Regret
Religious and Spiritual Resources
Pastoral Care and Counseling
Spiritual Guidance
Research and Intervention Strategies
Support Groups, Therapy, and the Visiting Ministry
Meaning Making
Future Directions

From the Paper
"One potential benefit to having an opportunity to "pre-grieve" (respectfully) is that the family and support system are intact and have time to adjust to losing their loved one. Plans can be made ahead of time, final requests can be granted, funeral arrangements can be made, religious or spiritual consolation is possible, amends can be made where necessary, and most of all, new memories can be made. In other words, the survivors have the opportunity to "learn the ropes" and obtain a sense of mastery of life without their loved one prior to it actually happening."

Tags:end-of-life children forgiveness facilitator, environmental causation

Abstract
This paper explains that the idea of death and dying is abhorrent; yet, in the case of the author's father, his dying and death was a process of renewal for him, for the author, for the author's mother, and siblings and members of the vast family of seventeen children into which his father was born. The author points out that he does fear death, not the actual act of dying, but knowing of the incompleteness it brings. The paper explains that Elizabeth Kubler-Ross's formalism on the stages in death and dying helped him to put his grief in a better context and to categorize his feelings.

Table of Content
Introduction
Individual Coping Strategies
Differential Treatment from Others
The Will to Live

From the Paper
"The concepts of heaven and hell have evolved over time. This extends for all major religions. Practitioners are admonished to seek good over evil for fear that they might face the fires of hell in the scary and graphic detail elaborately laid out by Dante in the "Inferno." It is not the hell fire and brimstone of the time of the awakening as Christian dogma evolved in the United States. Even the pope has spoken about heaven and hell actually being experienced here on earth, through how a person conducts his or her life. Going back to the differences between eastern and western thought of dying can be summed up in the concepts of Sogyal Rinpoche. In his "Tibetan Book of Living and Dying" he puts forth the idea that Tibetans believe that the best way to live ones life to the fullest is to spend every waking moment of it preparing to die. Such a morbid fascination with death would have no place in the western thought. And yet there is some truth to it."

Tags:renewal, process, family, incompleteness, stages

Abstract
This paper attempts to track the important developments in the law relating to dying declarations, concentrating specifically on sub-section 1 of 32 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872. Section 32 (1) of Indian Evidence Act, 1872. It looks at how the logic behind allowing dying declarations is that the character of the statement and the subject to which it refers indicate that it is reasonable to expect the highest degree of truth possible in the circumstances and the incentive or desire to falsify the statement is practically non-existence.

Outline
Introduction
History of Dying Declarations
Hearsay Evidence
Essentials of Dying Declaration
Court Proceedings
Attendance of Witnesses
Who May Testify?

From the Paper
"The greater portion of the law of evidence is concerned with the rules that gradually have grown up in the courts respecting persons who may testify, and the manner in which their testimony may be given. Keep in mind that the sole objective of the rules of evidence is to arrive at the truth. A witness testifies regarding his or her knowledge of the facts as a matter of public duty, and only with the imposition of conditions the law authorizes. An example of an unauthorized condition would be an agreement to pay a witness additional compensation exceeding that authorized by law for his or her testimony."

Tags:case, deceased, evidencelegal, maxim, mentiri, moriturus, nemo, procedure, proesumitur