Euthanasia: does eschatology matter?

This chapteranalyses the concepts of hope and eschatology related to questions ofEuthanasia. The authoremphasizes the rapid change of attitudes in the current Nordic societies withregard to both suicide and euthanasia. He takes his point of departure inthe novel “Grace” by Linn Ullman. This story is connected with the Nordic culturalcontext, where secular modernity meets a late modern, post-secular mentality.Furthermore he asks in what way these different cultural frameworks influenceour possibility to deal with questions of life and death, and how eschatologywill find different expressions within those different cultural frames.

In amulticultural situation the question of euthanasia must remain quite open,according to the author. There are no once and for all given answers to thesekinds of questions. Pointing to our ambivalent cultural situation with twodifferent frames shaping people's views of life the chapter shows thateschatology matters – and why. It matters within both frames. However, theauthor urges that eschatology comes closer to concrete human life whenunderstood within a late modern setting.