A BRIEF HISTORY OF
HELL
2b: Models in Science and Religion
Models of Hell
 Many cultures and religions believe in Hell.
What they believe varies, but the common
theme uniting all models of Hell is that it is
not a desirable place or state to be in!
 This presentation explores the various
ways that Hell has been understood in the
language and thought world of Christianity.
It will become clear that more than one
model of Hell has been used.
Models aid understanding
 It is perhaps inevitable that in pre-literate cultures concepts
such as hell were explored using stories and images. Indeed
it is necessary in to try to find ways to imagine the unseen in
religion, just as it is in science in those situations where no
direct apprehension of the object of study is possible.
 Such models have difficulties however. They can easily
dominate our vision and blind us to other models which may
be better. A problem with all models is that they can too easily
become the object that they are meant to represent. Think of
the way we imagine an atom because of the model we have
been taught in school.
What images spring to mind
when you think of Hell?
Which sources influence your
thinking?
Art?
Preachers?
Milton?
Dante?
Jesus?
The image on this slide is part of the fresco
covering the entire outer western wall of the
Voronet monastery in Romania. It was
painted in 1547 and depicts the Last
Judgement. St. Peter leads the righteous
into heaven while the sinners, chained by
the devils, are dragged into Hell.
This is part of the
(in)famous triptych,
an altarpiece entitled
The Garden of
Earthly Delights
(1504) by
Hieronymus Bosch.
The torments of hell,
a dark, icy, yet fiery
nightmarish vision
awaits those whose
sinful pleasures lead
inexorably to their
eternal separation
from God.
Gehenna - 1
 If you were tracking down the most widely used term for hell
in the New Testament this would be it. The other common
one is Hades, the Greek word for the Hebrew idea of Sheol,
the place of the dead.
 Much of the teaching of Jesus was in parables and he made
frequent use of simile and metaphor. Typically his teaching
about the Kingdom of God was in the form of comparisons:
“The Kingdom of God is like ….” Gehenna as a model for
hell is an interesting choice. Models generally result from
extending a comparison making it fruitful, suggesting new
ways of thinking about an idea.
Gehenna - 2
 So why would Jesus use Gehenna as his preferred term
for Hell?
 Its origin is in the valley of Gehinnom (in Hebrew) which
lay to the south of Jerusalem. It was a place where in the
time of the Book of Kings children were sacrificed.
According to Jeremiah it would be the place of God’s
judgement. Jewish apocalyptic literature assumed it
would become the hell of fire at the end of time.
 In Jesus teaching the emphasis seems to be on
Gehenna as a place of judgement for body and soul with
eternal consequences.
Gehenna - 3
 Does this mean that people will be tormented for ever in
Gehenna, in what seems to be an excessively
disproportionate punishment for a finite lifetime of
sinning!?
 This seems to have been the commonest interpretation of
Gehenna in history. But is it the correct way to understand
the model? What was Jesus getting at?
 Recently many scholars have pointed out that the
traditional understanding of Gehenna as a model of
eternal punishment is mistaken. Their reasoning is as
follows:
Gehenna - 4
Consider these typical texts about Gehenna:
 “Fear Him who can destroy both body and soul in hell”
(Matthew 10:28)
 “If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out; it is better for
you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with
two eyes to be thrown into hell, where the worm does not
die, and the fire is not quenched.” (Mark 9:47,48)
In the time of Jesus the valley of Gehenna was used as a
rubbish tip where material was burned continually and where
organic matter was biodegraded by worms and the like. Along
with the background of its use as a place of child sacrifice and as
an image of hell after judgement it was a powerful model to use.
Gehenna - 5
 But what does the model intend to teach about the fate of those
who are judged and found wanting by God? We have to interpret
the model.
 Consider these two alternative views of the soul:
 [1] Once created by God your soul is immortal. This is a typically
Greek philosophical view. This would mean that the action of the fire
and the worms would be an eternally enduring reality. Presumably
you would be conscious of your never ending punishment. Tortured
for eternity.
 [2] The soul has conditional immortality. God can choose for you to
live on for ever or to be destroyed. The image of Gehenna is best
understood as one of final destruction. Rubbish on the tip returns to
dust. Jesus is speaking of the final fate of the enemies of God as one
of destruction, of annihilation.
Gehenna - 6
 All models have positive, negative and neutral features.
They are like the reality they try to depict in some ways but
not in others.
 Perhaps by latching on to the (wrong?) understanding of
souls as being necessarily eternal, interpreters of Jesus’
model have misunderstood him. A consequence has been
to sharpen the problem of how God can justly punish
people for eternity in response to finite sinning.
 Other theologians have suggested that to understand the
model, you need to see it as a temporary punishment and
purging to prepare everyone for heaven. Is this what Mark
9:49 is about? “Everyone will be salted with fire.”
Gehenna - 7
ETERNAL CONSCIOUSLY
ENDURED PUNISHMENT
Gehenna
Fire & Worms
ANNIHILATION
TEMPORARY PURGING
PRIOR TO HEAVEN FOR ALL
One model: Gehenna. Three interpretations depending on what
you believe about other matters such as the nature of the soul.
Models and theories form a complex nexus of beliefs and it is
almost impossible in theology and in science for one idea to be
understood in isolation from the rest of the content of the
discipline.
FIN