BLOGGING TOWARD SUNDAY…

The current issue of The Christian Century features a symposium on the subject of hell.  In it, eight renowned theologians deal with the question:  How should we think and talk about hell?  A few representative statements for you:

Hell is a non-negotiable item of Christian vocabulary. It has scriptural roots, it is there in the earliest creed, and it has been a staple of Christian preaching and art since almost the beginning.  It’s worth noting that Christian tradition….has been chaste in formulating doctrine about hell…. The Catholic Church has very little developed hell-doctrine, teaching almost nothing…about who is in hell, whether anyone is, what it’s like to be there and so on.  This is a good thing….    Paul Griffiths of Duke Divinity School

From the place that it was, hell became a trope (figure of speech) to describe a condition of utter despondency where hope is no longer a companion….a place of no return, of no re-collection….  From a place of condemnation it becomes a place of closure from where there is neither retrieval nor redressing.  Yet, in a paradoxical way, for the Christian there is a hope against all hope.  As it is confessed in the Apostles’  Creed, God in Christ descended into hell.  That nothing is out of God’s reach, even the depths of hell, is what affords hope, the promise of life.  All hope has indeed been abandoned.  But this hope that defies all hope becomes the gateway to heaven.  Vitor Westhelle, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago

Hell is an integral part of the Good News.  If there wasn’t something to be saved from, why would we need a savior?   Alyssa Pitstick, Hope College

I have a test, when pressed.  Take the presser to dinner, see to it that a candle is lit, and ask the guest to put his or her finger in the tiny flame for ten seconds.  “Are you crazy?”  No, just testing.  Now picture your whole body in it for ten seconds and then forever.  If you still want to press me, I’ll say: “If you believe that torment will happen to unreached Hindus and your friendly neighborhood unbeliever or lapsed Catholic, why are you so inhumane, so selfish, that you are spending an extra hour beyond necessity to eat or chat?  Get out of here.  Pass out tracts, board planes to reach the heathen.  Don’t tell me that you have dealt with the physical pain of that hell and can keep your sanity.

Hellfire and brimstone preachers can’t digest their own message.  Those who really want to save souls or spread divine love — even those who use belief in hell as the orthodoxy test — are the ones who teach us to love God for God’s own sake.   Martin Marty, Professor Emeritus, University of Chicago Divinity School.

That’s what some of our leading scholars say about hell.  What do you say?  Let’s get a dialogue going, and then I’ll tell you what I think, and why.  It’s worth talking about.

Filed under: Blogging Toward Sunday