Wide Open

[poliphilo]

I wrote a while back about the number of recent or current TV shows that are concerned with death, ghosts and the bardo state. Now that they've finally explained themselves, we can add Lost and Ashes to Ashes/Life on Mars to the list. 

The church used to have the afterlife all sown up. There was heaven, hell-  purgatory possibly- and not much wriggle-room. Now that the authority of the church has collapsed there's an anxiety to be addressed- and the field's wide open to speculative fiction.

Comments

[ooxc.livejournal.com]

There was a lot of wriggle-room in what I was taught:
1) we're obliged to believe in hell, but we aren't obliged to believe that there is anyone in hell;
2) no-one is sent to hell - if there is anyone there, it's because they chose to be there/away from the good

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Anglicanism at its best: humane and a touch whimsical. :)

[ooxc.livejournal.com]

You are right that we were Anglican by then - but it was actually Baptist grandmother who taught it

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Have you read this book? I heard the author on R4 this morning, and thought it sounded intriguing.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I'd never heard of it, but it sounds fascinating- and right up my street.

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

I suspect it is just a Boomer thing. The post-war generation is coming to grips with their mortality, so I suspect it will be all death and old people, all the time, until they're gone. There is a huge surge in interest in genealogy right now, too.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I think you could be on to something there.

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

To be honest, I wish I weren't.