Death Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! === Origins of death === {{Main|Origin of death}} The [[origin of death]] is a theme or myth of how death came to be. It is present in nearly all cultures across the world, as death is a universal happening.<ref name="auto">{{Cite book |last=Green |first=James W. |title=Beyond the good death: the anthropology of modern dying |date=2008 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-0-8122-0207-6 |location=Philadelphia |oclc=835765644}}</ref> This makes it an [[origin myth]], a myth that describes how a feature of the natural or social world appeared.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Sacred narrative, readings in the theory of myth |date=1984 |publisher=University of California Press |editor-first1=Alan |editor-last1=Dundes |isbn=0-520-05156-4 |location=Berkeley |oclc=9944508}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Myth and method |date=1996 |publisher=University Press of Virginia |editor-first1=Laurie L. |editor-last1=Patton |editor-first2=Wendy |editor-last2=Doniger |isbn=0-8139-1656-9 |location=Charlottesville |oclc=34516050}}</ref> There can be some similarities between myths and cultures. In [[Mythologies of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas|North American mythology]], the theme of a man who wants to be immortal and a man who wants to die can be seen across many [[Indigenous peoples|Indigenous people]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Boas |first=Franz |date=October 1917 |title=The Origin of Death |journal=The Journal of American Folklore |volume=30 |issue=118 |pages=486β491 |doi=10.2307/534498 |jstor=534498 |jstor-access=free}}</ref> In Christianity, death is the result of the [[fall of man]] after eating the fruit from the [[tree of the knowledge of good and evil]].<ref name="auto"/> In [[Greek mythology]], the opening of [[Pandora's box]] releases death upon the world.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lang |first=Andrew |title=Modern mythology |date=2007 |publisher=Echo Library |isbn=978-1-4068-1672-3 |location=Middlesex |oclc=269027849}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page