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Michael takes you on an exegetical journey into the biblical significance of bones as a lasting memorial of a person awaiting the resurrection. Find out about the curious burial of the bones of Joseph, terebinth oaks as memorials of the dead, the connection of land inheritance and honorable burial, and the significance of Jesus’ secondary burial, or lack thereof.
LINKS
Ossuary for Ossilegium
“Secondary Burials in Palestine,” by Eric Meyers
“Why Did God Choose Circumcision?” by Peter Leithart
I really appreciated this episode. At the preserve I work at, we do whole body burial and cremation burial but we don’t scatter ashes and I have had a lot of feelings about that and discomfort with the idea of scattering ashes so this was of particular interest to me. I would like to explore this more- especially in how it could relate to the partnership of the people and land that Ellen Davis has written about. I want to learn more about how that partnership is represented in the connection of bones and trees.
Thanks, Amanda! I was not aware of Ellen Davis, but I looked her up, and her work interests me. Any books/talks I should attend to? Her approach reminds me of Wendell Berry’s. I really resonated with his work, The Unsettling of America. I agree with you on scattering ashes. Given my research, I don’t even feel comfortable with cremation for myself personally, though I am not condemning others if they think it’s the right way to go. I love the work you are doing. I would love to be buried in a grove of memorial trees. I want to talk with you more about planning for that. And I’d love to talk to you more about the bone-tree/people-land connection after I’ve given Ellen Davis a little more of my time. Thanks for listening and commenting. I know this episode was weird, so I’m really glad you appreciated it. The paper version of this I wrote for seminary was not received all that well by the professor. Lolz.
The best book I can recommend is Scripture, Culture, and Agriculture: An Agrarian Reading of the Bible . The foreword is by Wendell Berry and she interacts with his work a fair bit. Krista Tippett interviewed her for the On Being podcast and the episode includes Wendell Berry poetry read by him. I bet if you search Ellen Davis and Wendell Berry it would be a top result. Yes! I would love to talk to you more about conservation/green burial! If you guys ever want to pop up for a tour of the preserve, I would love to show you!
Thank you! I would love to visit and see that and talk. Thank you for the recommendation.