Book Launch, "The Meaning of Mourning"

A book launch presented by the Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion, the Humane Philosophy Project, and the Aquinas Institute.

Thursday 9 March, 5pm - 6:30pm

Main Aula, Blackfriars Hall, St Giles, Oxford OX1 3LY

With contributions from Lesley Chamberlain; Richard Conrad O.P.; John Cottingham; Douglas Davies; Matthew Dougherty; Amber Leigh Griffioen; Cathy Mason; Balázs M. Mezei; Anthony O'hear; Colin Murray Parkes; Roger Scruton; Mikolaj Slawkowski-Rode; Alexander Stoddart; Eleonore Stump; Raymond Tallis; Jerry Valberg.

Refreshments will be served.

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MOURNING, like grief, is a universal human response to death and loss. Mourning enables the bereaved to express their grief and come to terms with the reality of loss. Yet, despite their prevalence, there is no unified understanding of the nature and meaning of either grief or mourning. To address this lack of understanding, The Meaning of Mourning: Perspectives on Death, Loss, and Grief brings together fifteen essays from diverse disciplines examining the topics of death, grief, and mourning. The collection moves from general questions concerning the putative badness of death and the meaning of loss through the phenomenology and psychology of grief, to personal and cultural aspects of mourning. Contributors examine topics such as theodicy and grief, reproductive loss, mourning as a form of recognition of value, the roots of grief in early childhood, grief in COVID-times, hope, phenomenology of loss, public commemoration and mourning rituals, mourning for a devastated culture, the Necropolis of Glasgow, and the “art of outliving.”

This volume is edited by Mikołaj Sławkowski-Rode, of Blackfriars Hall, Oxford, and the University of Warsaw. This work provides a survey of the rich topography of methodologies, problems, approaches, and disciplines that are involved in the study of issues surrounding loss and our responses to it. The book also guides the reader through a spectrum of perspectives on these matters, highlighting the connections and discontinuities.

Several contributors to the volume expect to be present at the launch, including Richard Conrad O.P.; Leslie Chamberlain; John Cottingham; Douglas Davies; Amber L. Griffioen; Anthony O'Hear; Alexander Stoddart; Mikolaj Slawkowski-Rode; Raymond Tallis.

This event is free and open to the public.