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[German Version] People seek comfort and consolation because their lives are inevitably linked to suffering. Experiences with boundaries and distress lead to the question as to the meaning and cause of suffering and the possibility of finding consolation. I. The Old Testament speaks of human and especially of divine consolation in the context of mourning and in other grievous life situations. The theme is dominant in the psalms of lament: Supplicants express their suffering and experience consolation through God…

[German Version] are reactions to a loss, especially the loss of an important person through death or separation. But also the farewell to familiar circumstances and phases of life (Life, Cycle of), to ¶ physical and spiritual integrity, and – in the face of death – to life itself prompt grief and mourning. Grief is part of human existence. Because life depends upon relationship and leads to death, engagement with finitude and farewell cannot be avoided. I. Sociology places the beginning of any form of culture with the beginning of mourning for the dead. Every culture d…

[German Version] I. Religious Studies – II. Practical Theology – III. Ethics (Phases of Maturation) – IV. Judaism – V. Hinduism I. Religious Studies In almost all cultures and religions, a person apparently experiences his life not only as a straight line, but more as cyclically sequenced, more-or-less discontinuous phases with varied social status and role claims. The transition between these phases usually takes place as a controlled “growing process,” not only accompanied by so-called rites of passage, but in f…