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Inventing Hell: Dante, The Bible And Eternal Torment

Hell: The word means terror, darkness, and eternal separation from God. Some people think the Bible is clear about hell, but what if they're mistaken? With gripping narrative and solid scholarship, Sweeney charts hell's "evolution" from the Old Testament underworld Sheol, through history and literature, to the greatest influencer of all: Dante's Inferno. He reveals how the modern idea of hell is based mostly on Dante's imaginative genius-but in the process, he offers a more constructive understanding of the afterlife than ever before. Disturbing and enthralling, Sweeney will forever alter what we think happens to us after we die-and more importantly, he will make us reconsider how we live.

Paperback: 208 pages

Publisher: Jericho Books (June 17, 2014)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1455582247

ISBN-13: 978-1455582242

Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.5 x 8 inches

Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)

Best Sellers Rank: #496,840 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #50 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > Regional & Cultural > European > Italian #59 in Books > Literature & Fiction > History & Criticism > Regional & Cultural > European > Italian #276 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Bible Study & Reference > History & Culture

Very informative. I'm not saying there is not a hell, but if there is, I am more and more reluctant to view as most western Christian do. The western Church left creation theology behind, and bought into that heavy penal/substitution atonement theory view after the Lamb of God died to take away the sins of the world. Afterwards Dante gave the church much material from Roman and Greek Mythology, and contributed to the foundation of the really absurd literal view most people have of hell. I try not to think of it at all because I cannot understand evil, so the title of this book really caught my eye. I am not saying that hell does not exist. Perhaps it does. When we see sin in our life as the main problem we begin living in constant fear. This does not stop until one experiences the Love of God. After having that experience, I'm no longer trying to "scare the hell out of people, but tell them about the good news. Hell is the bad news. Hell's power over us is in the way we view it as overpowering the goodness of God and revert to blaming God for it, after all; He allows things like genocide, and cannibalism and just about any other horrible thing to happen, supposedly to bring us to God; so we start with hell to scare everyone first ("the floggings will continue until the morale improves"). I just think that is the wrong way to look at God. He didn't send a "kick ass" Jesus into the world to scare us into submission. He Loved us so that we could love him back. He sent a suffering servant to atone for our sin. But we are, like the Jews, still waiting for a "bad boy" Jesus, for those really evil people -- and we just aren't going to be happy until they "get what's coming to them".

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