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Getting Schooled - Christian Burial 101
🕑 Added 2025-10-14 10:00:11 +0000 UTCDoes it matter how we’re buried? Kaitlyn unpacks the history of Christian burial, why it came about, and whether we should still see it is a big deal today. There’s some weird implications! What if your body is lost at sea? What about people eaten by cannibals?
Note: The screens on the wall going out was not the ghost of a cremated individual voicing their displeasure, but was the result of forgetting to plug something in. R.I.P., dead computer battery.
Resources:
Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church by N. T. Wright: https://a.co/d/6HmG7bt
A Hole in the World: Finding Hope in Rituals of Grief and Healing by Amanda Held Opelt: https://a.co/d/hadd1y4
The End of the Christian Life: How Embracing Our Mortality Frees Us to Truly Live by J. Todd Billings: https://a.co/d/gwdQU4k
Comments
Sarah Moore
Just listened to this episode today and I appreciated that Skye briefly mentioned veterans! I live in Northern VA and a lot of people are eligible for burial in Arlington National Cemetery but the waiting period is usually like 18 months-2 years! Not a lot of options other than cremation in that case if that is something that's important to the deceased or their family. I'm also Anglican and it's much more common for people to be cremated in this tradition than in others - I actually don't think I've been to many (if any) Anglican funerals that had a casket. Typically they'll have the urn in the front of the church.
David McKinnis
I thought this was a good episode handling the decisions around burial well. However I am disappointed with the lack of acknowledgment of our Jewish heritage in this episode. I heard no mention of Jewish burial customs. At one point Kaitlyn says that Christians brought a change to the world by saying “we value and dignify human bodies even when they have died.” But Jesus was a Jew and buried following Jewish customs, which to me value the human body. My understanding is that Jews were also burying their dead at the time of Jesus vs. the Romans who did more cremations. I am not a scholar so I may have some of this wrong, but I am always concerned when we forget that Christianity was first practiced by Jews.
Carol Topp
My church has a cemetery! It’s called a Memorial Garden. We are located in suburban Cincinnati with plenty of land purchased 30 years ago when the church was founded. It’s quite lovely and peaceful. Thanks Skye and Kaitlyn for pointing out the significance of this Memorial Garden. P.S. it’s a Presbyterian Church.
David Rogers
I have to be careful here. My sense of humor is probably on the dark side. I have asked to be cremated, at least in part because after radiation treatment for my cancer, it seems to be more responsible than other options. I also have asked that my ashes be scattered in a highly irresponsible manner. A handful might end up in the columbarium with my siblings.
