Beck argues that the removal of the immediate presence of death during the industrial and technological age has not only instilled a heightened fear of death, but also inflamed the manifestations of anxiety in our daily lives. Through the changes in our food preparation and consumption, the popularity of funeral homes, and the availability of specialized hospice care, the modern world allows us to outsource dealing with death to someone else.

In the technological world, we can choose what is close and what is distant—even death. In his book The Slavery of Death, Richard Beck writes:

Prior to the industrial revolution and the advent of modern medicine, our experience of death was more direct and immediate. Death was a daily reality. (29)

Today our culture prefers to keep death at arm’s length. What does this mean for pastoral ministry, and particularly when ministering to those facing end-of-life uncertainty?

Beck—a psychologist and theologian—argues that the removal of the immediate presence of death during the industrial and technological age has not only instilled a heightened fear of death, but also inflamed the manifestations of anxiety in our daily lives. Through the changes in our food preparation and consumption, the popularity of funeral homes, and the availability of specialized hospice care, the modern world allows us to outsource dealing with death to someone else.

Death Anxiety

Ironically, the ability to outsource dealing with death hasn’t freed us from its fear. What has taken root instead, Beck argues, is a “death anxiety” that underlies all other forms of anxiety and drives us to distraction:

In an attempt to manage or reduce our anxiety, we are driven to embrace distractions, entertainments, and comforts. The illusion of a deathless society can only be maintained by a vast industry of such distractions and entertainments. (29)

Our fascinations with legacy, and the continuation of our name and achievements, are also attempts to circumvent death. For Beck, these “identities are being driven, deep down, by death anxiety” (37).

Some channel their death anxiety into searching for a technological solution to death. Peter Thiel, a billionaire venture capitalist, has invested in numerous projects focused on life-extension, human biology, and the eventual prospects of immortality. Thiel sees the ultimate victory over death as small, winnable medical interventions that will eventually cure disease and extend life. He says, “In practice, it will always be framed in terms of these very specific interventions, and it seems to me in every instance the moral answer has to be, yes, we should do this.”

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