Preface. Introduction: About growing older, dying and death. 1. Grief and loss: A part of life. 2. Fear of dying. 3. The final life career: Is this only a time of waiting for death? Or is there something more? 4. Acceptance that death will come. 5. Pain, distress and suffering. 6. Prayer. 7. Responding to meaning: symbol and ritual. 8. Transcendence in the process of death and dying. 9. Healing of relationships. 10. Intimacy and dying. 11. Dementia and dying. 12. Ethical and moral issues in death and dying. 13. The final days and hours of the journey. 14. Learning to live without my partner. Further reading. Appendices. Index.
A sensitive and compassionate exploration of the spiritual issues surrounding death and dying
Elizabeth MacKinlay is a registered nurse and an Anglican priest. She is Director of the Centre for Ageing and Pastoral Studies at St Mark's National Theological Centre, Canberra, Australia, and a Professor in the School of Theology at Charles Sturt University, Australia. She was Chair of the ACT Ministerial Advisory Council on Ageing 2002-2008 and was the ACT Senior Australian of the Year for 2009. Elizabeth is the editor of Ageing and Spirituality across Faiths and Cultures and Ageing, Disability and Spirituality and the author of Spiritual Growth and Care in the Fourth Age of Life and The Spiritual Dimension of Ageing, all published by JKP.
(...) this book provides a gentle but emotive introduction into
preparing for the final journey of life.
*Journal of Community Nursing*
...both of these books (Spirituality and Personhood in Dementia by
Albert Jewell and Palliative Care, Ageing and Spirituality by
Elizabeth Mackinlay), (...) are infused with glimpse of grace and
courage, can inspire the reader to give thanks and cherish all that
is good, and to live life as fully as we are able, even in the
midst of frailty.
*The Way*
this is a book which anyone involved in this area could read with
real profit - and pass on to others. Strongly recommended.
*Plus*
MacKinlay's skills as a nurse and priest are reflected in the
simple and compassionate opening up of the questions and some of
the consequent feelings that surround this important dimension of
our living.
*Church Times*
In a culture that tends to assume that the only meanings that can
be associated with death are profoundly negative, the idea of a
good death for elderly people is not always apparent. Elizabeth
MacKinlay sees things differently. In this book she teases out a
different way of looking at and understanding death and dying.
Death is not an enemy or even something that necessarily has to be
feared. Rather, death is a meaningful movement towards a positive
goal. Religion and spirituality are vital aspects for the
achievement of such a goal. This book helps us all to see death and
dying differently and in seeing these things differently, we can
learn to practise more compassionately.
*Professor John Swinton, Chair in Divinity and Religious Studies
and Professor in Practical Theology and Pastoral Care, University
of Aberdeen, Scotland*
The phrase 'a good death' seems ridiculous, but what is really
meant is a good approach to death, with minimal physical pain, and
the best chance of mental and spiritual calm to face the end. Not
an easy task and therefore a book such as this containing helpful
advice and real examples can be a useful aid to not only
professionals perhaps facing palliative care for the first time,
but also to families and friends who can have much to offer in
bringing comfort and ease... This book, by being non-technical is
also of value to the relatives and friends of those approaching the
end of their mortal life.
*GoodBookStall.org.uk*
|
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
