Grief and Religion
The Five Stages of Grief and Religion
In 1969, Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, a Swiss researcher, presented a list of five stages that individuals experience when dealing with death; and since then these principles have since been applied to loss and grief in general. The five stages of the Kubler-Ross model are Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and finally Acceptance; and it can be asserted that these stages are experienced in one form or another by all humans regardless of cultural background. ("Five Stages of Grief") In other words, the five stages of loss and grief are emotional reactions that are universally experienced by all humans. (Kubler-Ross, 2005, p. 199) Different religions have traditionally created their own means of dealing with loss and grief particularly from a death, and while they may approach the subject from different points-of-view, they all must deal with the five stages that people experience when grieving.
In the Judeo-Christian religious tradition, grief and loss are things that are widely discussed in the Bible. For instance, there is the story of Job, a strongly religious man who's faith is tested by a number of losses; including the loss of his family fortune, and health. However, while Job experiences the five stages of grief, the acceptance that he must come to is not the acceptance of loss but the acceptance that his life is in the hands of God and that everything happens according to God's plan. When Job is first cursed, he enters a state of denial, but it is the denial that he has sinned and is being punished. Since he is not a sinner, he cannot understand why he has suffered such loss, and while...
Stages Grief Losing a son or daughter challenges personal faith in God and can bring a person to the brink of despair. In Lament for a Son, Nicholas Wolterstorff accomplishes the difficult goal of communicating his grief over the loss of his son. The author achieves his goal by grounding his sorrow in Biblical truth and also by allowing himself to proceed between the various stages of death within the Kubler-Ross
Grieving in Literary Works Wolterstorff is able to find joy after his loss in more than one way. Specifically, the author was actually able to transition through the various stages of grieving as outlined by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross. Those stages include denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and understanding (Ferrini and Ferrini, 2008). Towards the end of the book, for instance, it is clear that he is able to arrive at an understanding of
Lament for a Son, Wolterstorff talks about how a Christian worldview can help coping with grief and loss. Wolterstorff's perspective corresponds with Kubler-Ross's five stages of grief, even though the narrative is not formally about those stages. The stages of grief provides a model for the ways human beings process death and loss, not to show that there is a "right" or "good" way of experiencing grief but simply
Figure 1 portrays three of the scenes 20/20 presented March 15, 2010. Figure 1: Heather, Rachel, and Unnamed Girl in 20/20 Program (adapted from Stossel, 2010). Statement of the Problem For any individual, the death of a family member, friend, parent or sibling may often be overwhelming. For adolescents, the death of person close to them may prove much more traumatic as it can disrupt adolescent development. Diana Mahoney (2008), with the
Job in the Bible and the Grieving Process Review story Job Bible, focusing suffering grief. Examine story correlates grieving process defined Kubler-Ross. 3) In a paper 750-1000 words include: a) Compare contrast grieving process defined Kubler-Ross story Job religion. The understanding of the process of grief helps many to understand how to deal with their emotions and also how to react physically to the loss. Kubler-Ross described a five stage process
Job and Kubler-Ross Biblical and Buddhist Grief: A Comparison Job's lamentations, according to Patricia Byrne (2002), represent the painful process of redefining his place in the world. Before Satan's challenge to God to test Job's faith, Job's life was the envy of his neighbors. With seven healthy and vibrant sons and three daughters, seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, one thousand oxen, five hundred donkeys, and an untold number of servants, Job
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