Rethinking Hell: Readings in Evangelical Conditionalism - Softcover

Christopher M. Date

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0718893700 ISBN 13: 9780718893705

Publisher: James Clarke and Co Ltd, 2014

Synopsis

Many Christians believe that 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 theologians, biblical scholars, and philosophers began to reject the traditional doctrine of eternal conscious torment in hell in favour 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. However, 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. Earle 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.

About this title

Review

... [A] welcome compendium... Particularly helpful here is the reproduction of more obscure contributions from a generation earlier which paved the way for Wenham, Stott et al. to 'come out' for conditionalism... --David Hilborn, Theology 118.6 2015

About the Author

Christopher M. Date is the principal blogger and podcaster of the Rethinking Hell project and works as a software engineer in the Pacific Northwest. Gregory G. Stump is a graduate of Fuller Theological Seminary and serves as a pastor at a Baptist church in Southern California. Joshua W. Anderson earned an MA in Philosophy from Talbot School of Theology and an MA in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary; he teaches apologetics and theology at Ecclesia College in Springdale, Arkansas.

About this edition

• Publisher: James Clarke and Co Ltd
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0718893700
• ISBN 13: 9780718893705
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 368
• Editor: Christopher M. Date, Gregory G. Stump, Joshua W. Anderson