Role of Death in Life

John Behr is the Dean of St Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary in New York. He has published numerous monographs, most recently an edition and translation of the fragments of Diodore of Tarsus and Theodore of Mopsuestia, and a monograph on Irenaeus.Conor Cunningham, Associate Professor of Theology and Philosophy at the University of Nottingham, serves as co-director of the Centre of Theology and Philosophy. He is the author of the award-winning Darwin's Pious Idea: Why the Ultra-Darwinists and Creationists Both Get It Wrong (2010).

• List of ContributorsPrefaceI: Perspectives from Astronomy, Chemistry, and Biology 1: Made of Star-stuff: The Origin of the Chemical Elements in Life - Alexei V. Filippenko 2: A Biochemical Perspective on the Origin of Life and Death - Luc Jaeger II: Perspective from Anthropology 3: Immortality - Douglas Davies III: Perspectives from Philosophy 4: Suffering Death - Emmanuel Falque 5: How Do We Become Fully Alive? The Role of Death in Henry's Phenom­enology of Life - Christina Gschwandtner IV: Perspectives from Theology 6: Life and Death in an Age of Martyrdom - John Behr 7: New Life as Life out of Death: Sharing in the 'Exchange of Natures' in the Person of Christ - Henry Novello 8: Is There Life before Death? - Conor Cunningham V: Perspectives from Medicine and Bioethics 9: The Kenosis of the Dying: An Invitation to Healing - Daniel Hinshaw 10: On Medical Corpses and Resurrected Bodies - Jeffrey Bishop Bibliography

In this book, the mutual implication of death and life is demonstrated from an astronomical level, in the emergence of human life from the death of stars, to the molecular level where death enables the emergence of cellular life, through anthropological, philosophical, and theological insights, to the realm of medical care for the dying, where it is claimed that 'only theology can save medicine.' A profound and challenging book.