The Gift of a Holy Death

A pastoral and theological guide for chaplains and hospice workers to provide a holy death for patients, blending tradition, theology, and real stories of grace at the end of life.

Offering a practical theology based on the Anglican tradition of holy dying, Rev. Dr. Tyler Parry equips caregivers and pastors to rediscover how dying can be a sacred practice of communion, hope, and love. His reinterpretation of the tradition is rooted in Scripture, sacramental imagination, hospice chaplaincy, and trauma-informed care that are threaded through real case studies and examples. Parry contrasts the medicalized experience of death with a pastoral vision of death as communion with God. Through this lens, he offers hospice chaplains and others who provide end-of-life care a spiritual and practical guide to help patients face their own mortality. Whether that means allowing music to enter the hospice space, looking at death as a final academic seminar, or supporting a woman who envisions death as God’s embrace, Parry encourages caregivers to listen and learn from the dying and to accompany them authentically on their final earthly journey.