Ep 11: The Evolution of Hell, or How the shady grave became a burning blaze

You know all about Hell. Fire. Torment. Gnashing teeth. All the images we inherited from Dante, Milton, and "Chick Tracts." But where did those images come from? The Hebrew Bible has Sheol and the Greeks had Hades, but when Jesus said "Gehenna," it was a fiery new thing. What did he mean? Was it real or metaphor? Did his listeners know what he was talking about? How did the idea of justice in the afterlife evolve between Genesis and Revelation? And when we are faced with multiple visions of the future by the same Bible, which one do we choose? In this episode, I start off with statements about Hell by notable progressive Christian thinkers--Zach Hunt, Roger Wolsey, Bart Ehrman, Brian McLaren, Rob Bell, Sharon L. Baker--and use those as the catalyst for an exploration of what Jesus did or did not say when he talked about Gehenna, what the Hebrew Bible said about the afterlife, and how the idea of divine retribution after death developed in the background between the Old and New Testaments.I’m also always grateful to Steev RX for his song “Purpose,” which is the theme for the show. Find his music on ⁠⁠SteevRX.com⁠⁠ and on streaming platforms everywhere.