The Spiritual Lives of Bereaved Parents

This book describes how parents lose, find, or relocate spiritual anchors after the death of their child. It describes how ordinary people reconstruct their lives after their foundations have shifted, and how they make sense of their world after one of their centers of meaning has been removed. Klass grounds his descriptions of spirituality in his scholarly study of comparative religions, and in his two decades studying the lives of bereaved parents. He argues that continuing bonds with their dead children can give parents a new transcendent reality. Deceased children, like saints or bodhisattvas, can offer a bridge between the profane and sacred worlds, support parents as they find meaning in a world made forever poorer, and bind together a community adequate to parents' grief. The book reports Klass's clinical practice and his work as advisor to a bereaved parents self-help support group.

ISBN 0876309902   Pages 208 ISBN13 9780876309902 (What's this?)   Volumes 1 Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd   Weight (grammes) 492 Imprint Brunner-Mazel Inc   Published in New York Format Hardback   Series title Series in Death, Dying and Bereavement Publication date 22 Jul 1999   Height (mm) 229 Library of Congress 99-13925   Width (mm) 152 DEWEY 291.442   Spine width (mm) 18 DEWEY edition DC21   Academic level Undergraduate, General, Professional / Scholarly, Postgraduate

		Foreword
		Preface
1		The Aftermath of Spiritual Storms		1
2		The Spiritual Aspects of Parents' Grief		15
3		Community and the Transformation of the Parent-Child Bond		45
4		Solace: Comfort within Devastation		94
5		Worldviews: Finding Order in the Universe		126
6		Implications for Professionals Who Want to Help		166
7		Research Method: How Can an Outsider Understand?		205
		References		219
		Index		225

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