Four Views on Hell PDF Download

Author: John F. Walvoord
Publisher: Zondervan Academic
ISBN: 0310872375
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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Book Description
Most contemporary Christians acknowledge the doctrine of hell, but they’d rather not think about how God punishes the wicked. The authors of Four Views on Hell meet this subject head-on with different views on what the Scriptures say. Is hell to be understood literally as a place of eternal smoke and flames? Or are such images simply metaphors for a real but different form of punishment? Is there such a thing as “conditional immortality,” in which God annihilates the souls of the wicked rather than punishing them endlessly? Is there a Purgatory, and if so, how does it fit into the picture? The interactive Counterpoints forum allows the reader to see the four views on hell—literal, metaphorical, conditional, and purgatorial—in interaction with each other. Each view in turn is presented, critiqued, and defended. This evenhanded approach is ideal for comparing and contrasting views in order to form a personal conclusion about one of Christianity’s key doctrines. The Counterpoints series provides a forum for comparison and critique of different views on issues important to Christians. Counterpoints books address two categories: Church Life and Bible and Theology. Complete your library with other books in the Counterpoints series.

Author: Bart D. Ehrman
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1501136747
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
Over half of Americans believe in a literal heaven, in a literal hell. Most people who hold these beliefs are Christian and assume they are the age-old teachings of the Bible. Ehrman shows that eternal rewards and punishments are found nowhere in the Old Testament, and are not what Jesus or his disciples taught. He recounts the long history of the afterlife, ranging from The Epic of Gilgamesh up to the writings of Augustine, focusing especially on the teachings of Jesus and his early followers. Ehrman shows that competing views were intimately connected with the social, cultural, and historical worlds out of which they emerged. -- adapted from jacket

Author: Robert Arp
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137455713
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 238

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Book Description
What is the nature of Hell? What role(s) may Hell play in religious, political, or ethical thought? Can Hell be justified? This edited volume addresses these questions and others; drawing philosophers from many approaches and traditions to analyze and examine Hell.

Author: Scott G. Bruce
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0143131621
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
"From the Bible through Dante and up to Treblinka and Guantánamo Bay, here is a rich source for nightmares." --The New York Times Book Review Three thousand years of visions of Hell, from the ancient Near East to modern America A Penguin Classic From the Hebrew Bible's shadowy realm of Sheol to twenty-first-century visions of Hell on earth, The Penguin Book of Hell takes us through three thousand years of eternal damnation. Along the way, you'll take a ferry ride with Aeneas to Hades, across the river Acheron; meet the Devil as imagined by a twelfth-century Irish monk--a monster with a thousand giant hands; wander the nine circles of Hell in Dante's Inferno, in which gluttons, liars, heretics, murderers, and hypocrites are made to endure crime-appropriate torture; and witness the debates that raged in Victorian England when new scientific advances cast doubt on the idea of an eternal hereafter. Drawing upon religious poetry, epics, theological treatises, stories of miracles, and accounts of saints' lives, this fascinating volume of hellscapes illuminates how Hell has long haunted us, in both life and death. For more than seventy-five years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 2,000 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Author: Alan E. Bernstein
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 150171175X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 409

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Book Description
What becomes of the wicked? Hell—exile from God, subjection to fire, worms, and darkness—for centuries the idea has shaped the dread of malefactors, the solace of victims, and the deterrence of believers. Although we may associate the notion of hell with Christian beliefs, its gradual emergence depended on conflicting notions that pervaded the Mediterranean world more than a millennium before the birth of Christ. Asking just why and how belief in hell arose, Alan E. Bernstein takes us back to those times and offers us a comparative view of the philosophy, poetry, folklore, myth, and theology of that formative age.Bernstein draws on sources from ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, Rome, and Israel, as well as early Christian writings through Augustine, in order to reconstruct the story of the prophets, priests, poets, and charismatic leaders who fashioned concepts of hell from an array of perspectives on death and justice. The author traces hell's formation through close readings of works including the epics of Homer and Vergil, the satires of Lucian, the dialogues of Plato and Plutarch, the legends of Enoch, the confessions of the Psalms, the prophecies of Isaiah, Ezechiel, and Daniel, and the parables of Jesus. Reenacting lively debates about the nature of hell among the common people and the elites of diverse religious traditions, he provides new insight into the social implications and the psychological consequences of different visions of the afterlife.This superb account of a central image in Western culture will captivate readers interested in history, mythology, literature, psychology, philosophy, and religion.

Author: Christopher Date
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1630871605
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 378

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Book Description
Most evangelical Christians believe that those people who are not saved before they die will be punished in hell forever. But is this what the Bible truly teaches? Do Christians need to rethink their understanding of hell? In the late twentieth century, a growing number of evangelical theologians, biblical scholars, and philosophers began to reject the traditional doctrine of eternal conscious torment in hell in favor of a minority theological perspective called conditional immortality. This view contends that the unsaved are resurrected to face divine judgment, just as Christians have always believed, but due to the fact that immortality is only given to those who are in Christ, the unsaved do not exist forever in hell. Instead, they face the punishment of the "second death"--an end to their conscious existence. This volume brings together excerpts from a variety of well-respected evangelical thinkers, including John Stott, John Wenham, and E. Earl Ellis, as they articulate the biblical, theological, and philosophical arguments for conditionalism. These readings will give thoughtful Christians strong evidence that there are indeed compelling reasons for rethinking hell.

Author: Steve Gregg
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
ISBN: 1401678319
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
It is an undeniable fact that the very concept of hell is shrouded in mystery. We know what books and movies tell us hell is like, but we’re left with so many questions. Is hell simply a place where sinners are sent to suffer for their sins, or is it much, much more than that? All You Want to Know About Hell breaks down the three most popular views on hell and tells us what the Bible really says about this terrifying and mystifying place. From the “traditional” view of hell as a place of eternal torment to the early Christian view that hell is a place of suffering intended to purge sin and to bring about repentance, no other book gives such in-depth biblical insight into the truths about hell that are hidden in all the hype. Features include: Complete coverage of the three most popular views on hell Clear explanation of what Scripture really says An easy and interesting read for laypeople, pastors, and scholars alike

Author: David Bentley Hart
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300248733
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 247

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Book Description
A stunning reexamination of one of the essential tenets of Christian belief from one of the most provocative and admired writers on religion today “A scathing, vigorous, eloquent attack on those who hold that that there is such a thing as eternal damnation.”—Karen Kilby, Commonweal The great fourth-century church father Basil of Caesarea once observed that, in his time, most Christians believed that hell was not everlasting, and that all would eventually attain salvation. But today, this view is no longer prevalent within Christian communities. In this momentous book, David Bentley Hart makes the case that nearly two millennia of dogmatic tradition have misled readers on the crucial matter of universal salvation. On the basis of the earliest Christian writings, theological tradition, scripture, and logic, Hart argues that if God is the good creator of all, he is the savior of all, without fail. And if he is not the savior of all, the Kingdom is only a dream, and creation something considerably worse than a nightmare. But it is not so. There is no such thing as eternal damnation; all will be saved. With great rhetorical power, wit, and emotional range, Hart offers a new perspective on one of Christianity’s most important themes.

Author: Dave Armstrong
Publisher: Sophia Institute Press
ISBN: 1622820053
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
Over 2,000 Bible Proofs for Catholic Truths! Contrary to what many believe, Catholic doctrine is not made up by popes and theologians but is derived entirely from revelation, as this book shows. In it, veteran Catholic apologist Dave Armstrong gathers in one place countless passages from Holy Scripture that point directly to the teachings of the Catholic Church. This galaxy of more than 2,000 passages from the Bible is overwhelming evidence that on every side Catholic teachings are confirmed by Scripture. Indeed, these passages show that the Catholic Church has a more complete grasp of the meaning of Scripture than those who try to use Scripture to discredit the Church. That’s because Catholic teaching is based not on selective readings of Scripture but on understanding and veneration of the whole Bible in its organic interrelatedness. Catholic doctrines are not distilled from single passages quoted in isolation or out of context; they arise from an encounter with the whole of Scripture, wherein passages on the same theme are read in light of each other, so that together they lead the mind to a complete picture of the truth. That’s why Dave Armstrong has gathered here under 115 thematic headings all the passages in Scripture relating to key Catholic doctrines. This arrangement makes it easy for readers to consider systematically — as the Church does — all the parts of the Bible that relate to any particular Catholic belief. Whether you’re a Protestant seeking to understand Catholicism, or a Catholic wanting to defend Catholic teaching or learn more about its biblical basis, this is the one book you need.

Author: Timothy Keller
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101217650
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
A New York Times bestseller people can believe in—by "a pioneer of the new urban Christians" (Christianity Today) and the "C.S. Lewis for the 21st century" (Newsweek). Timothy Keller, the founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, addresses the frequent doubts that skeptics, and even ardent believers, have about religion. Using literature, philosophy, real-life conversations, and potent reasoning, Keller explains how the belief in a Christian God is, in fact, a sound and rational one. To true believers he offers a solid platform on which to stand their ground against the backlash to religion created by the Age of Skepticism. And to skeptics, atheists, and agnostics, he provides a challenging argument for pursuing the reason for God.