This book was pretty good, I would definitely recommend

~This was given by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review………..

This book was entertaining and enjoyable to read. I highly recommend it. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC.

When the pandemic really took a politically cancerous form, my boss at the time had enforced a rule that we weren’t allowed to talk about our personal perspectives on it. She knew there were some who agreed and others who disagreed and to open the door would foster this messy dialogue and create a toxic workplace.

What I appreciate about these others is that they lay out boundaries and rules within their writing, similar to what my previous boss did, while discussing contentious views they state, “We do not have space to enter into that discussion today. (p. 44)” In that sense, I appreciated the professionalism and direct focus of the authors.

The book is broken up well, first discussing the concept of hell in the old testament, then the new, then going into the early Christian church (Origen, Maximus the Confessor, Aquinas, Augustine) and moves through the early reformation era church theologians (Luther, Calvin, Zwingli) as well as philosophers, writers and preachers of the era (Hobbes, Milton, and Bunyan) really diving into how the idea of hell came about. As we move onto the Age of Enlightenment, we can see the evolution and how these sentiments get solidified (Edwards, Wesley), or even change in the post-war period and the idea of hell as spiritual alienation.

This is the kind of book that I imagine a RELS or PHIL 101 professor would have as a resource because it dives into such immense detail on little things and likes to ask a lot of - “But what about this…?”

For a small book, it surprisingly packs a scholarly punch. The voices discussed, the broad range of both early Christian church and modern theology, even the rich dive into both the Bible and non-canonical texts was fascinating. The book draws no conclusions or assumptions about what the reader knows/believes and does not put the reader in a position to assert beliefs either. The writers present a well-educated and well-versed assessment on the existence of hell and separation from God. The author’s emphasize that the answer to hell’s existence is not an easy path, but ultimately the focus should be on God’s love rather than God’s vengeance/justice.