Death Will Die: Finding Eternal Life from a Johannine Ars Moriendi

Abstract

This thesis argues that Christians should develop an Ars Moriendi from the Johannine literature, which recenters death and dying with an eternal perspective, drawing on the beliefs and practices of the Christian tradition to help Christians die well. Chapter 1 describes the Ars Moriendi tradition and reviews relevant literature on the subject. Chapters 2 and 3 exposit the Gospel of John and the Book of Revelation to develop a Johannine theology of death. Chapter 4 surveys the alternative Ars Moriendi traditions from Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, and Stoicism and argues that Christians should implement a Johannine Ars Moriendi. Chapter 5 concludes with five implications of the research and calls on the global church to implement a Johannine Ars Moriendi by (1) caring for the dying, (2) reclaiming the sacredness of death and dying, (3) remembering the ritualistic nature of death and dying, (4) maintaining a theology of the body, (5) and employing a Johannine Ars Moriendi as an embodied apologetic.