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Reclaiming the Lost Art of Dying

June 20, 2019

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Many people today are not prepared for death, but this has not always been the case. In the early to mid-fifteenth century, there developed a series of Ars moriendi (“art of dying”) handbooks on the prepa­ration for death. Although the original Ars moriendi emerged out of the Catholic Church in response to the high mortality rate of the Bubonic Plague, Protestants and others quickly adapted them. They were wildly popular in the West for more than 500 years. But about a century ago, the “art of dying” died out, and West­erners became increasingly ill-prepared for death. Is it possible to revive the Ars moriendi, and if so, what will it take?

Keywords:
Death and dying; Dying well; Ars moriendi; Christian death