While heaven has been a major topic of recent analysis and conversation, thanks in part to several best-selling books on the subject, hell has been much less discussed and evaluated. Although sizable numbers of Americans continue to profess belief in hell's existence, most of them prefer to ignore the subject. The subject of hell has also received little scholarly attention in recent decades. Therefore, this wide-ranging and impressively researched book is a valuable resource that contributes substantially to our understanding of the topic.
In Hell and Its Afterlife, professors of History, English, Religious Studies, Classics, and Media Arts who teach in Canada, England, Switzerland, and the United States examine the place and prominence of hell in the Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian traditions during the past two and half millennia. They show that the idea that flagrant sinners will be perpetually punished in an infernal locale has a long history both as a religious concept and a cultural metaphor. Whether hell has been considered an actual place or a figurative idea, it has often been strongly asserted and its nature has been fiercely debated because hell has served as a vehicle for discussing such paramount issues as “human identity . . . justice, forgiveness, suffering, political affiliation, and death” (1). According to the editors, these essays show that hell has served the “positive” purposes of arguing that souls exist eternally, providing reassurance that divine judgment will be just, and affirming “cosmic meaningfulness, even in the midst of monumental suffering” (2). Negatively, hell has been used to condemn people without any recourse, stigmatize others, repudiate fellowship, and destroy loving relationships. Moreover, in various eras the concept of hell has been employed to highlight the power, love, and justice of God and the crucial role of the church in salvation. Emphasis on the horrors of hell has encouraged individuals to reflect on their sinfulness, repent of their wrongdoing, and act morally.
These essays cover much ground both historically and thematically: they analyze how hell was perceived in ancient Roman and Greek culture; in medieval society, post-Reformation England, and Spanish America; by evangelicals, Mormons, and James Joyce; and in contemporary urban communities, comic books, horror films, and the “war on terror.” Several essays specifically and the book as a whole make the same argument about hell that I make in my book Heaven in the American Imagination (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011) about heaven: conceptions of the afterlife have changed substantially over time in response to the cultural trends, problems, and concerns of various eras. In many ways, images of hell (and heaven) reflect prevailing cultural assumptions about what and who is valued and despised. For example, by the nineteenth century, as greater emphasis was placed on the dignity and worth of individuals and rehabilitation began to replace painful, punitive treatment of lawbreakers, hell came to be viewed much less as a place of physical torments.
Throughout history the leading debates about hell have focused on the nature, duration, and fairness of its punishments, what purposes hell serves, whether any goodness is possible there, and whether love can penetrate it in any way. Since the Reformation, Catholics and Protestants have argued over the concept of purgatory. Recent debates about hell continue to analyze whether it serves educational, purifying, ultimately redemptive, or simply punitive aims. These essays discuss these issues as well as other controverted questions: Why does hell exist? What will hell be like? How can it be avoided? Are there levels of hell? Where is hell?
Individual essays point out the connections between Jewish, Greco-Roman, and early Christian conceptions of the underworld and later portraits of hell in both Eastern and Western Christendom. They also explain that in earlier eras hell was not simply a place of hellfire and brimstone and argue that after the Reformation Protestants and Catholics often pictured hell in similar ways.
Jeffrey Trumbower demonstrates that the ideas that hell may be temporary and that all may be saved were asserted by some early church fathers, not simply espoused by such nineteenth-century American groups as Shakers, Mormons, and Universalists. These ideas have also influenced contemporary evangelicals as John Sanders shows in his analysis of the battle among British and American evangelicals over what hell will be like and who, if anyone, will go there. The most popular view is still that punishment will last forever and that the residents of hell are aware of their suffering. However, some evangelicals, most notably John Stott, argue that those who refuse to repent will be annihilated. Another British Anglican, leading New Testament scholar N. T. Wright, implies that the deceased who reject God are conscious but experience neither joy nor suffering. Still other evangelicals contend that hell involves genuine suffering, which will eventually redeem most of its residents, while a few assert that everyone will ultimately be saved. Sanders also discusses eight competing evangelical positions on the fate of those who die without ever hearing the gospel message. The two most widely held ones are restrictivism—adults cannot be saved unless they exercise saving faith prior to death—and inclusivism—Christ is the only way of salvation, but those who die without knowledge of His atoning death on the cross will go to heaven if they respond to God's revelation in nature.
This collection of essays is a fascinating assessment of the varied ways hell has been viewed and the diverse purposes that conceptions of hell have served in different eras. Because the essays address such disparate topics and issues, readers would benefit from a longer introduction that highlights more of the similarities and commonalities among them. Although the book is challenging to read, it is well worth the effort.
