(Walter 1994:15). In the modern context there is very little overall opposition
to processes and procedures of rationalization and the medicalization of the
body. Those who are dying, in general, seek technological assistance, expert
medical care, and the involvement of professionals. As much as religious
authorities (priests, laypeople) participate, the secularized body is essentially
the property of the medical community along with state bureaucrats whose
advice is taken as authoritative. Modern death is primarily secular and highly
instrumental, largely indifferent to religious sensibilities. The modern atti-
tude is one guided by the subject-object paradigm. In this context, which
exaggerates anxieties about death by means of control, the dying person is
viewed as an object of medical expertise and death is the result of a techno-
logical failure. Modern death is typified by Walter as cancer or coronary dis-
ease. Although burial of the body (often after embalming) is common, cremation
becomes increasingly popular. Religious rites and authorities may be present
but they are adjunct to the efficient and proper care and disposal of the body
and are largely present for purposes of assisting the living with bereavement.
In the shift from traditional practices to modern practices, death ceases to
be viewed as cursed but more often as tragic, and one could add the death
of a child to the list of “bad” or particularly grief-ridden deaths. In the mod-
ern era there is a sustained silence regarding certain kinds of inappropriate
deaths, including the death of infants and suicides. The model “good death”
is one that is emotionally tolerable to the survivors and takes place within
the confines of privacy and muted grief.
Neo-Modern Death
Walter then argues that the neo-modern experience of death and dying marks
a decisive shift in western cultural attitudes. He indicates that there are two
trends within this movement: one toward the increasing sophistication of
methods of control and manipulation (late modern) and another toward indi-
vidualization and expressive discourse (postmodern). Both are situated in the
context of a growing awareness of the importance of communication, value
pluralism, and the uniqueness of the experience of dying for the individual
persons involved (‘I’ve never done this before’). The neo-modern responses
to death emerge out of experiential deficiencies in the modern attitude toward
death, which became more prominent during the 60s. Since modern settings
of instrumental and expert intervention are often constituted by an overall
Intersubjectivity and Religious Language • 183