Four Views on Hell (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology)
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Book Description
Four views on what the Scriptures contain regarding the nature of hell are presented in this guide to widely debated biblical interpretation.
From the Back Cover
Most contemporary Christians, while giving lip service to the doctrine of hell, prefer not to think about it. Few like to reflect on how God punishes the wicked. The authors of Four Views on Hell meet this subject head on and propose different views of what the Scriptures say about hell. Many Christians still hold to a literal understanding of hell, that it is a place of eternal smoke and flames. John F. Walvoord is a strong advocate of this view. William V. Crockett defends a metaphorical view, seeing hell as a place of eternal conscious punishment but not necessarily as being a literal fire. Clark H. Pinnock articulates the view of conditional immortality, that God eventually destroys the souls of the wicked rather than punishing them endlessly. Finally, Zackary J. Hayes explains the thinking that undergirds the doctrine of Purgatory. Evangelicals will have a greater appreciation for why this doctrine developed centuries ago in the church. The authors interact with one another by responding to each other's articles.
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Most Christians have natural problems with the concept of eternal punishment. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Most Christians have natural problems with the concept of eternal punishment. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A great little read on a difficult, and very important subject. You are taken through four views of hell!! i) J F Walvoord on the Literal View ; ii) W V Crockett on the Metaphorical View ; iii) Z J Hayes on the Purgatorial View ; iv) C H Pinnock on the Conditional View.
Each contributor also critique's each of the other views, which makes it particularly interesting. They are so polite, but none fails to highlight the differences in the views.
The reader will have to do some thinking for themselves, because each of the critiques was sufficiently helpful as to make you want to work some more. But that is good theology!!
Just a word of caution : Beware Pinnock's deceptively appealing logic, which owes much to an erroneous view of God. Pinnock writes brilliantly, and is very persuasive. He has a lot to contribute, but the reader needs to ensure they have a clear doctrine of God before accepting all he says. (This last paragraph written with the greatest of respect, may I add)
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a difficult topic which must be handled with great sensitivity. While I have no great beef with the approach taken, I did find it limited.
Essentially Walvoord's Literal View and Crockett's Metaphorical View are really just 2 sides of the same view: 'Eternal damnation'. Hayes defends Purgatory approach but that still reduces back to 'Eternal damnation' for those who fail to make it into Purgatory. Finally Annihilationism favoured by Pinnock. Again what we have here is 'Temporary damnation' ie it's OK because 'they' only suffer for a bit.
I did not find the discussions trying to explain what the point of 'hell' might be or how a good God 'copes' when much of His creation ends up in eternal torment.
There was minimal discussion of "Conditional Universalism" (p.141-2) which might deal with some of the issues: "I do not know what befell Mother Teresa of Calcutta when she died, nor what has become of Joseph Stalin. But the same thing cannot have come upon them both. If there is any moral rhyme or reason in the Universe, all human beings cannot be equally well off as soon as they breathe their last and wake again." Dale C. Allison, 2005, 'The Problem of Gehenna', p.99 in Resurrecting Jesus, t&t clark.
No discussion of the position made most famous by CS Lewis: people are in hell because they choose to be there. A very brief mention only of Lewis's comments about 'poena damni' (p.61-2).
Perhaps the book should be called 'Variations on a single theme':
* 3 said "if you're in Hell you're there forever";
* while the 4th said "if you're in Hell you're there for a while and then you cease to exist".
They may not be wrong but it would be a much better book if it covered more of the options and tried to explain why hell exists at all.
Essentially Walvoord's Literal View and Crockett's Metaphorical View are really just 2 sides of the same view: 'Eternal damnation'. Hayes defends Purgatory approach but that still reduces back to 'Eternal damnation' for those who fail to make it into Purgatory. Finally Annihilationism favoured by Pinnock. Again what we have here is 'Temporary damnation' ie it's OK because 'they' only suffer for a bit.
I did not find the discussions trying to explain what the point of 'hell' might be or how a good God 'copes' when much of His creation ends up in eternal torment.
There was minimal discussion of "Conditional Universalism" (p.141-2) which might deal with some of the issues: "I do not know what befell Mother Teresa of Calcutta when she died, nor what has become of Joseph Stalin. But the same thing cannot have come upon them both. If there is any moral rhyme or reason in the Universe, all human beings cannot be equally well off as soon as they breathe their last and wake again." Dale C. Allison, 2005, 'The Problem of Gehenna', p.99 in Resurrecting Jesus, t&t clark.
No discussion of the position made most famous by CS Lewis: people are in hell because they choose to be there. A very brief mention only of Lewis's comments about 'poena damni' (p.61-2).
Perhaps the book should be called 'Variations on a single theme':
* 3 said "if you're in Hell you're there forever";
* while the 4th said "if you're in Hell you're there for a while and then you cease to exist".
They may not be wrong but it would be a much better book if it covered more of the options and tried to explain why hell exists at all.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
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31 reviews
73 of 76 people found the following review helpful
Good Overview of Four Doctrines on Hell
3 Mar 2002
Format:Paperback
This book accomplishes its objective of presenting four differing views on hell. Obviously, it consists of four authors submitting defenses of their particular positions. A couple of the writers are more persuasive than their colleagues. This persuasiveness, however, stems more from the positions themselves rather than from the skill of the persons penning them.
Walvoord begins with a simplistic, fundamentalist position of literal, eternal fire. Walvoord does a decent job of making his point. The issue is muddled, unfortunately, with the mantra of literal interpretation as the only method for persons who believe the Bible is inerrant. The connection with dispensationalism is apparent in the frequent, literal application of passages in Revelation.
Crockett steps to the plate next with the metaphorical view. His presentation is the most convincing of the four, partially because of his skill but mainly because of the strength of the argument itself. Crockett sticks to the point and drives it home.
Hayes takes his turn defending the purgatorial position. I was a bit surprised to find a serious consideration given to the idea of purgatory in a work of this nature. Hayes deserves credit for making a valiant attempt to communicate a Catholic belief to a predominantly Protestant audience. He offers little Scriptural support for his position, simply because there is little Scriptural support to be found.
Pinnock concludes the presentations with his view of annihilation. Pinnock is not as convincing as Crockett, but gives some substantial Scriptural evidence and theological reasoning to support his position. Crockett does an excellent job of refuting Pinnock's argument in the brief response he offers.
I intially planned to give this volume three or four stars, because at least two of the arguments presented are extremely weak. On second thought, however, the presentations are all fairly well done -- the problem is with the positions themselves. For anyone wanting a good overview of four doctrines of hell, I strongly recommend this book.
44 of 45 people found the following review helpful
Four Views of "Hell-ologists"
29 Aug 2002
Format:Paperback
Four Views of Hell is one of the best books available on the subject. Unlike other books on the same topic, the book dares to allow differing voices to be heard. But, this book may tell us even more about the prejudices and preconceptions of those who contributed to it than about the afterlife.
John Walvoord is dogmatic in his "Literal" view that hell is a place of actual flames combining physical pain with mental and emotional depression and misery. I believe that literal is a particularly bad naming and this should have been called the "Traditional" view instead.
William Crockett allows more credence to other views but still suggests that his "Metaphorical" view, hell is a state of mental and emotional depression and misery without physical features, are the only reasonable views.
In the "Purgatorial" view, Zachary Hayes, gives an excellent synopsis of the development of this controversial idea, but the reader is left to wonder whether purgatorial is 'hellish' in the traditional sense or merely cleansing and refreshing. His treatment of the Roman Catholic doctrine is historical, fair, and unapologetic.
Clark Pinnock writes one of the best articles, to date, on the "Conditional" view. This view holds that in the end, most of the unsaved will become saved, and those who persist in rebellion and hold fast to doing evil will enter a state of oblivion and annihilation. Pinnock's article and counterpoints are excellent and by far the least prideful of the lot.
The flaw, not with the book but with the contributors, is that they don't seem to read what the others have written. In their rebuttals they pick and choose their attack points often missing the very solutions to the problems they point out.
I would be delighted if this book were revised in the future to include views on "Soul Sleep" and deeper coverage of the included views. Despite the pugnatious attitudes of some of the contributors, I would want to read a broader and deeper coverage of the different views rather than avoiding them or this book.
While Hell-ologists (to coin an understandable term) may be dogmatic and sometimes arrogant in their views, the book allows the reader to see what their views are about and to fairly weigh the views. I've yet to find another book on the subject which accepts counterpoints as well as this book in Zondervan's Counterpoints Series.
John Walvoord is dogmatic in his "Literal" view that hell is a place of actual flames combining physical pain with mental and emotional depression and misery. I believe that literal is a particularly bad naming and this should have been called the "Traditional" view instead.
William Crockett allows more credence to other views but still suggests that his "Metaphorical" view, hell is a state of mental and emotional depression and misery without physical features, are the only reasonable views.
In the "Purgatorial" view, Zachary Hayes, gives an excellent synopsis of the development of this controversial idea, but the reader is left to wonder whether purgatorial is 'hellish' in the traditional sense or merely cleansing and refreshing. His treatment of the Roman Catholic doctrine is historical, fair, and unapologetic.
Clark Pinnock writes one of the best articles, to date, on the "Conditional" view. This view holds that in the end, most of the unsaved will become saved, and those who persist in rebellion and hold fast to doing evil will enter a state of oblivion and annihilation. Pinnock's article and counterpoints are excellent and by far the least prideful of the lot.
The flaw, not with the book but with the contributors, is that they don't seem to read what the others have written. In their rebuttals they pick and choose their attack points often missing the very solutions to the problems they point out.
I would be delighted if this book were revised in the future to include views on "Soul Sleep" and deeper coverage of the included views. Despite the pugnatious attitudes of some of the contributors, I would want to read a broader and deeper coverage of the different views rather than avoiding them or this book.
While Hell-ologists (to coin an understandable term) may be dogmatic and sometimes arrogant in their views, the book allows the reader to see what their views are about and to fairly weigh the views. I've yet to find another book on the subject which accepts counterpoints as well as this book in Zondervan's Counterpoints Series.
53 of 56 people found the following review helpful
Good-Natured Debate on a Difficult Subject
8 Mar 2000
Format:Paperback
I think it was Spurgeon who said one should never preach on hell without tears in one's eyes. Do not be worried - none of these men presenting their views would disagree with that quote. None disavow that there is indeed a hell and that some people will end up there. What they are debating is how to read the biblical texts about hell, it's nature, etc. The book starts with the most traditional view, which it seems to me is the weakest one presented (or the weakest presentation) followed by the metaphorical - which seems so close to the traditional (especially when compared to the last two) as to render the differences nearly useless. Whether or not there are actual flames? Is this a burning question (pun intended ;))? After these two are the most interesting essays. A Catholic writer defends the idea of purgatory (technically not about hell, but about suffering in the afterlife) and makes a fairly good case. To do so, he must address differences that are basic to Catholic and Evangelical soteriology - justification and sanctification. I learned a bit I did not know. Finally, comes Clark Pinnock and the conditional view. Dr. Pinnock takes quite a bit of heat for some of his views including this one. He believes that the biblical data and what we know and believe about God tell us that the unrepentant sinner will not be kept alive merely to experience punishment and torment forever, but will be annihilated - eliminating rebellion from the Kingdom of God. Many tangential issues such as post-death salvation and redemptive suffering are addressed, especially in the last two essays. This volume really opened my eyes and made me dive back into the Bible to see what it had to say. I won't divulge my opinions - but they were different than what they were before I read this book!
A useful reference to different views and a plus for the Counterpoints series.
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