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Hell Under Fire: Modern Scholarship Reinvents Eternal Punishment | 
 enlarge | Creators: Gregory K. Beale, Daniel I. Block, Sinclair B. Ferguson, Jr., R. Albert Mohler, Douglas J. Moo, J. I. Packer, Robert Yarbrough, Christopher W. Morgan, Robert A. Peterson
Publisher: Zondervan
Category: Book
List Price: $19.99
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Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 251364
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.2 x 0.7
ISBN: 0310240417
Dewey Decimal Number: 236.25
UPC: 025986240417
EAN: 9780310240419
ASIN: 0310240417
Publication Date: December 1, 2004
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Product Description
This book provides a biblical, systematic, and practical theology of hell. The contributors to this volume unite in affirming the historic Christian doctrine regarding the final destiny of the unsaved: They will suffer everlasting conscious punishment away from the joyous presence of God.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Great Examination of The Doctrine of Hell May 17, 2008
Robert A. Peterson's book, "Hell on Trial: The Case for Eternal Punishment" is a very thorough examination of the doctrine of Hell. I recommend this book to anyone who has questions regarding what the Bible says about Hell, and how scholars and theologians have viewed the topic over the past two thousand years. Peterson examines the Biblical principles of Hell and why God created such a place, as well as the heated debate regarding annihilationism.
This book is well worth the money and I'm sure it will be a treasured book in anyone's collection regardless of their Christian denomination.
Read This Book! October 10, 2007
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Stereotypes abound when one thinks of hell. The school child may conceive images as seen in 1940's era cartoons -complete with devil costumes and boiling caldrons. The cynic may imagine nothing worse than the current state of the world -life is a living hell. Hollywood concocts grotesque and wonton versions of hell -but perhaps not far off the mark. What then of the minister of the gospel, how does he handle hell? Sadly, the traditional and historical view of hell is lost or at best missing in action in modern ecclesia. When the lights come on and the curtain rises, the doctrine of hell is often left waiting in the wings on the stage of Christian worldview - never to utter its solemn teaching to the masses.
Too often in modern evangelical scholarship and preaching, the biblical teaching of hell as eternal conscious punishment is conspicuously absent. Taking its place is a me-centered gospel message of sugar and spice and everything nice. Often used as an expletive, hell has had its place in orthodoxy usurped by such emotive heresies as Universalism and Annihilationism. Hell has become nothing more than a bad dream, a scary story mothers tell their children to keep them honest, and at best, a defunct and embarrassing doctrine from a primitive age, proven erroneous by modern theological intelligentsia.
The editors and contributors of Hell Under Fire beg to differ with those attempting to sweep hell under the carpet of theology. In what amounts to a compendium of modern, orthodox, evangelical scholarship, the contributing authors of Hell Under Fire outline exactly how the doctrine of hell has been traditionally understood, what the Bible has to say about hell, and how believers are to handle the various affronts to the doctrine of hell. The format of the book is rather simple - each author contributes an essay based on their own academic specialty, concerning the doctrine of hell; the editors acquiesce the information into a smooth ebb and flow, palatable for scholars and laypeople alike. Although all nine contributors to this book are well respected and learned men, regretfully, space dictates that only three of them receive mention.
R. Albert Mohler opens the book with his essay Modern Theology: The Disappearance of Hell. Mohler traces the idea of hell as ever present on the minds of the ancients right up to the time the death knell was driven in the Victorian Era -paving the way for subsequent liberal philosophers and theologians to eradicate hell from public consciousness.
Mohler's treatment on the history of hell is as much fascinating as it is enlightening. In a relatively short space, he manages to give a complete picture of how hell went from a first-level doctrine to a caricature of its true nature. Using no fewer than ninety-six references, Mohler takes the reader on an odyssey of historical theology as if it were effortless for him. Mohler seeks out and examines the varied and many philosophers that have both affirmed and denied the actual existence of a physical place called hell (respectively), all the while keeping an eye on Scripture as his truth compass. Indeed, Mohler's final words should ring loud the ears of the readers, "Hell may well be denied, but it will not disappear." Hell Under Fire would be worth the read if only for Mohler's flawless expose of ancient and current thinking in the church concerning hell.
J. I. Packer uses his real estate to explore the false doctrine of Universalism with his essay titled, Universalism: Will Everyone Ultimately Be Saved? Universalism is a theory thought to have sprung from the early church father Origen. The theory states that the salvific intent of the atonement was so universal, that all humans will be saved through Christ and eventually come to a harmony with God and reside in his Heaven, regardless of one's decision to acknowledge Christ as Lord and God during their natural life; this includes Satan and his angels. Packer is quick to point out that the vast majority of proponents to Universalism attach a great deal of emotional baggage to the theory. Interestingly, Packer notes that Universalism is far from being a unified theory; rather it is comprised of many small, varied versions of the theory. One of the most theologically perplexing ideas put forth by Universalism theologians is that the ultimate expression of God's agape love is not necessarily the person of Christ, but the desire that God would not allow any to ultimately parish.
After surveying the primary scholarship of Universalism and breaking down the major tenants of the debate between universalists and those holding the historical view of hell, Packer correctly asserts that advocates of this false doctrine are simply trying "to circumvent the seemingly clear New Testament witness to the eternal destiny of those who live and die without Christ." Packer concludes that Universalism is appealing only prima facie. The chance that all would not parish, but have eternal life is at the heart of evangelism. The notion of all people achieving salvation, regardless of their earthly attitude toward Christ is so counter-biblical, so distorted from the teaching of God about himself revealed in Scripture, that it must be rejected with extreme prejudice. Packer adds that if the church neglects hell, the world will not "know the truth about holiness, the judgment, the plan, the love, the Christ, and the salvation of our God."
"To speak of hell is to speak of things so overwhelming that it cannot be done with ease... the thought of hell... can carry no inherent attraction to the balanced and coherent human mind... yet hell exists; this is the testimony of the Scriptures, of the apostles, and of the Lord Jesus himself." With these solemn words, Sinclair B. Ferguson begins his essay on Pastoral Theology: The Preacher and Hell. The doctrine of hell has been debated since the first century and has been repeatedly vindicated by orthodox thinkers and councils. The problem as Ferguson sees it is that the debate must stop at the pulpit. If ministers of the gospel are honoring God, have reconciled their own sin and sheer dependence on the mercy of Christ, then they cannot but help preach with fear and trembling "the righteousness of God, the sinfulness of our sin, and the absolute justice of God's condemnation of us" as seen in the doctrine of hell. Hell must be preached, and regularly at that.
Ferguson spends time examining how the pastor must have his own life in order before he can preach with any credibility on such a topic as hell. After a brief discussion on the pastor's role in preaching on hell, Ferguson examines the most common reactions by hearers to lectures on hell, with scriptural rebuttals. Ferguson then poses a series of four important questions and answers concerning the doctrine of hell:
1. Is hell fair?
2. What of those who have never heard of the gospel? May we entertain a "larger hope" that many who have never heard the gospel will be saved?
3. What are we to say at funerals of unbelievers and to their relatives?
4. How can I ever be happy in heaven if I know that there are people in hell -including people I have loved?
Ferguson correctly concludes the inquisition, with the statement that there are aspects of God that cannot be fathomed this side of eternity. The only answer for believers in regards to Heaven and hell is to "constantly remind ourselves that it is the Savior who spoke clearly of the dark side of eternity. To be faithful to him, so must we."
Weaknesses are hard to come by in this sort of work; if they exist at all, it is in the arguments of the authors themselves -which they are entitled to, as per the nature of such a work. Several of the authors tend to get a little long-winded at points, but this quickly passes as the reader becomes engaged with the subject matter. Didactically, Morgan and Peterson could have established harder lines between several of the essays to keep one subject from spilling over into the next, avoiding some redundancy. Perhaps each essay's contingency on another's topic makes coalescence unavoidable.
Hell Under Fire is a fantastic resource for one beginning research on the vast topic of hell in the modern context, using it as a encyclopedic source. However, the book is also a sound handbook for those familiar with modern scholarship reinventing eternal punishment, using it as a refresher or supplement to existing research. Although the contributors are a veritable who's who of evangelical scholarship, Hell Under Fire is palatable for layman as well as serious Bible students. This book can earnestly be recommended to any who wish to understand hell as essential to an orthodox doctrine of the Christian faith and its essentiality to evangelism.
 from a somewhat disappointed fence-sitter September 13, 2007
12 out of 14 found this review helpful
The reason I ordered this book was because I thought I would get a book that provided exegetically-driven counter-arguments to the arguments for annihilationism / conditionalism, as I have recently gone through Fudge's "The Fire that Consumes," with presents some impressive arguments for this view. Here's the chapters:
1. Modern theology: the disappearance of Hell (Albert Mohler Jr)
2. The old Testament on Hell (Daniel I. Block)
3. Jesus on Hell (Robert W. Yarbrough)
4. Paul on Hell (Douglas J. Moo)
5. The Revelation on Hell (Gregory K. Beale)
6. Biblical Theology: Three Pictures of Hell (Christopher W. Morgan)
7. Systematic Theology: Three Vantage Points of Hell (Robert A. Peterson)
8. Universalism: Will Everyone Ultimately be saved? (J. I. Packer)
9. Annihilationism: Will the Unsaved Be Punished Forever? (Christopher W. Morgan)
10. Pastoral Theology: The Preacher and Hell (Sinclair. B. Ferguson)
As one may conjecture based on this (I couldn't see the table of contents when ordering), this book is diffuse, with repetition of material by different chapters. For someone seriously concerned (and not confident) about the truth of the matter on this issue, like me, there have been some irritating moments in reading, because certain Scripture and issues would be, in a given chapter, passed over very quickly, which would not happen if the book was more focused in is content / organization. Another aspect of the broad scope of the book is that it deals with history and philosophical and emotional objections to the traditional view, whereas I was looking mainly for biblical exegesis. I'll just give some feedback about the chapters on Scripture vis-a-vis the argument against annihilationism
Bock's "Old Testament on Hell" - He says that "We find hints of the netherworld and the afterlife as a place/time of eternal torment (in contrast to a beatific afterlife for the righteous) as we know it from the New Testament in only two Old Testament texts: Isaiah 66:24 and Daniel 12:2" (59). But in proceeding to discuss these two passages, Bock does not argue for the traditional view at all, does not deal with annihilationist arguments, but just asserts his view! I'm not at all faulting Bock's intelligence or scholarship here; it seems to me, rather, that he simply wasn't thinking about arguing against annihilationism when he wrote this, but was giving a more general informative article on the Old Testament's view of the netherworld.
Yarbrough's "Jesus on Hell" - Yarbrough clearly takes it upon himself to argue against annihilationism, however in my opinion the argumentation is lacking. Everyone is entitled to his own opinion about the soundness of Yarbrough's anti-annihilationist arguments, but I think a less disputable point would be that the chapter was organized in such a way that little space was allocated to rebutting annihilationist exegetical arguments; and for a reader such as me, that's where I was itching. He for some reason spent 4 pages on the reliability of the gospels as testimonies to Jesus' words. 6 pages were given to rebutting Fudge's views on certain verses in the gospels.
Moo's "Paul on Hell" was a very good chapter; I don't have any gripes with Moo; unfortunately I think the main controversial verses in this dispute are not Pauline. Moo does however provide some considerations that he believes favor the traditional view.
Beale's "The Revelation on Hell" - this is an excellent chapter, and the main reason I'm still glad I bought this book. Beale is very rigorous exegetically, and he explicitly takes up the annihilationist position and argues against it by arguing about the Scriptural data and not appealing to intuitions or "it seems to me that..." This is the chapter that I'll continue to work through in my own studies on this issue.
Christopher Morgan's "Annihilationism..." chapter was very short on exegetical counter-arguments to annihilationist's arguments (most of the chapter is on history, and broader theological/philosophical issues). Two short paragraphs constitute the attack on annihilatonist views of "eternal" as it pertains to passages on hell, and two more paragraphs on the annihilationist view of "destruction."
Hell is Balanced and Fair. August 12, 2006
3 out of 7 found this review helpful
I thought the book was honest and fair. Having read other views on Hell and having studied the topic of Conditional Immortality, the authors did a good job critiquing, answering challenges, and exegeting the truth in my humble opinion.
Evangelical, Traditional and Biblically Faithful January 19, 2005
42 out of 48 found this review helpful
Having already read the first book in what I hope is to be a continuing series, God Under Fire (Zondervan), and having read other works by most of the contributors to the present volume under review, I expected to gain from reading Hell Under Fire. I was not disappointed, and the essays contained in the book were all of a consistently high standard.
The first essay was by Albert Mohler, and outlined the modern demise of the doctrine of hell from the 17th century onwards. His article outlines how hell began to be questioned in mainline denominations, gradually moving to a doctrine repellent to many in the church by the Victorian Era, and eventually being regarded as nothing more than a myth in the 20th century. Mohler then outlines how these attitudes have recently been entering even evangelical circles, with annihilationist leanings in the writings of such prominent theologians as John Wenham, John Stott, and of course, Clark Pinnock.
Following Mohler's historical review are four essays on the teaching of certain parts of the Scripture: Daniel Block on the Old Testament, Robert Yarborough on the teaching of Jesus, Douglas Moo on Paul's teaching and Gregory Beale on Revelation. Block's essay is an interesting read for those who are unacquainted with the way in which the Old Testament lays the backdrop for the teaching of Christ and the apostles on hell in terms of imagery, and I especially appreciated his discussion of the Netherworld, in the OT, and Daniel 12:1-3. The essay's by Yarborough and Moo met the high expectations I had of them from reading some of their previous works. Yarborough summarized the large amount of Gospel teaching on Hell very well, as well as including an interesting section refuting the charge that His teaching came from Plato, and concluding with a reflection on the teaching in light of September 11th, while Moo excelled in his discussion of Paul's teaching on the issue of eternal punishment and the justice of God (Paul never uses the term `hell'). Beale's essay was good, but was the most disappointing to the reviewer (all things are relative!), but still argued powerfully against the annihilationist teaching that is becoming ever more prevalent in evangelical circles.
The next two essays covered hell in Biblical Theology and Systematic Theology. Christopher Morgan (the only author the reviewer had not come across before, but whose two essays were not out of place in the book) commented briefly on the doctrine from each of the New Testament authors, concluding with a discussion of hell pictured as punishment, destruction and banishment. Robert Petersen (who has written on thee subject more fully elsewhere) presented a very interesting and rewarding paper on the theology from three vantage points: those of the trinity, human responsibility and divine sovereignty, and the `no' and `not yet' tension on the Bible.
Two essays followed on universalism (by J. I. Packer) and annihilationism (by Morgan again). Both essays were useful, and showed the flaws in these approaches according to the clear teaching of the Bible, though Morgan's is most useful in the context of modern evangelicalism as universalism is not really proposed by many serious theologians who label themselves as evangelicals. The final essay was, in this reviewer's opinion, the finest, with Sinclair Ferguson discussing the pastoral implications of the Biblical doctrine of hell. Ferguson's pastoral heart was obvious throughout as he wrestled with the reality of hell in preaching and evangelism, and his essay is the most important contribution of the volume I would say, as the other material is covered in other volumes elsewhere, though the reviewer has not come across another essay quite like Ferguson's.
Overall, a fine volume on a difficult topic, and perhaps the best summary the reviewer has read on the topic (though find also Robert Petersen's other books, and John Blanchard's `Whatever Happened to Hell'). As stated at the beginning, I hope Zondervan will continue to release more books in this series...perhaps Justification Under Fire may be a good one, edited by Don Carson!
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