Eschatology Books - Page 5

God's Unfolding Battle Plan: A Field Manual for Advancing the Kingdom of God

Chuck D. Pierce

Amazon Price: $10.19 List Price: $14.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Regal Books Amazon Marketplace: 41 new & used starting at $7.00

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Christianity -> Christian Living -> General
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Christianity -> Christian Living -> General AAS
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Christianity -> Theology -> Angelology

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

The Christian game plan 5 out of 5 stars.
20 of 20 people found this review helpful.

Chuck D. Pierce, gifted author and minster, details the war that the church is and will be facing as the return of Jesus comes closer. He explains nine different wars that the church is fighting on different fronts: the mind, blood, time, presence-and-glory, power, wealth, war of the nations, and harvest wars.

Each chapter in the book provides a deeper look at various aspects of the war and strategies for becoming a winner in that war. For instance, the mind war deals with gaining peace in our daily lives, the blood war explains how to break the patterns of bad behavior handed down from our forefathers, the time war deals with how little time we have and how to spend it wisely for God. He goes on to emphasize that unless the church gains victory in all these areas, it cannot go forward. The only way to defeat the enemy in each instance is to follow God's strategies for winning these wars.

After reading this book, I felt more prepared to deal with many situations in my own life. After all, who does not struggle with lack of peace or time in certain situations?

Pierce writes with insight and fervency as he tries to communicate to the readers how important it is to follow God's plan. His anecdotes and short stories are excellent analogies, making the book an interesting read.

This is a book every Christian should read; otherwise they are in battle without knowing the game plan, which is a recipe for disaster!

Armchair Interviews says: A book about what many battle with.

Editorial Review:

This new book from Chuck Pierce continues to empower Christians to face the exciting present (and future) for the Church that he began to lay out in The Future War of the Church. Yes, we are in the midst of a battle that will only increase in strength, but the victory has already been promised. Outlining the next 7-year period of spiritual war, 2008-2015, Pierce shows how God will advance His kingdom, causing the faithful to rise up and God s will to be done here on Earth as it is in Heaven. God s Unfolding Battle Plan offers a glimpse into what s ahead, as well as encouragement to triumph over the attending forces of lawlessness, hopelessness, and violence. Discover what God has said to Pierce about the upcoming period and learn how to prosper through strategic intercession, worship warfare, and a powerful new weapon of intercession, the four watches of the night. Remain hopeful knowing you are a part of God s unfolding battle plan, and the best is still ahead.

Eschatology: Death and Eternal Life

Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger

Amazon Price: $13.45 List Price: $14.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Catholic University of America Press Amazon Marketplace: 24 new & used starting at $13.45

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Christianity -> Theology -> Eschatology
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> General
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A Clear and Precise Work of Theology 5 out of 5 stars.
32 of 32 people found this review helpful.

"Eschatology: Death and Eternal Life" is a very mature and thorough study of this difficult topic. Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, originally wrote this book in German, as the final volume in a series on Dogmatic Theology. It is a very professional piece of scholarship and is the culmination of twenty years worth of research.

In this book, Ratzinger writes in a very clear and direct style, but as it is an academic piece, it does presuppose some background knowledge in Christian theology. The book begins by asking the questions, what do people think, and why do they think this. The beauty of this work is that it is an understandable but incredibly thorough study of the Judeo-Christian intellectual history for the topics of death and eternal life.

The book begins with an overview of the perspectives in contemporary Biblical scholarship on the issues of death, judgment and an afterlife. It explains in very simple terms what the Bible says on these topics and how this has been interpreted in Christian history. How various questions associated with death were approached in the Old Testament, the New Testament and in the Tradition of the Church, right up to the present day.

The final sections of the book make a close analysis of numerous questions of what was and is meant by Immortality, the Resurrection of the Dead, Final Judgment, Hell, Purgatory and Heaven. The book then finishes with an updated overview of contemporary approaches, written by then Cardinal Ratzinger on the occasion on the translation of this book into English in 1987.

If you want to really understand what Christianity teaches about death and an afterlife and why this is so, this book is for you.

Editorial Review:

Originally published in English in 1988, Joseph Ratzinger's Eschatology remains internationally recognized as a leading text on the "last things"--heaven and hell, purgatory and judgment, death and the immortality of the soul. This highly anticipated second edition includes a new preface by Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI and a supplement to the bibliography by theologian Peter A. Casarella.

Eschatology presents a balanced perspective of the doctrine at the center of Christian belief--the Church's faith in eternal life. Recognizing the task of contemporary eschatology as "to marry perspectives, so that person and community, present and future, are seen in their unity," Joseph Ratzinger brings together recent emphasis on the theology of hope for the future with the more traditional elements of the doctrine. His book has proven to be as timeless as it is timely.

Forever Ours: Real Stories of Immortality and Living from a Forensic Pathologist

Amazon Price: $24.95 List Price: $24.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: New World Library Amazon Marketplace: 22 new & used starting at $8.03

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> General
Subjects -> Biographies & Memoirs -> General AAS
Subjects -> Health, Mind & Body -> Self-Help -> Personal Transformation

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 26 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A comfort 4 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

This book was so comforting to read. I bought it for myself, but I think it would be a great gift for someone going through a loss of someone close to them. The book doesn't make judgements, it just talks about real life people experiencing life and beyond.

Editorial Review:

Forensic pathologist Janis Amatuzio first began recording the stories told to her by patients, police officers, and other doctors because she felt that no one spoke for the dead. She believed that the real experience of death — the spiritual and otherworldly experiences of those near death and their loved ones — was ignored by medical professionals, who thought of death as simply the cessation of breath. She knew there was more, and determined to record it — from the first experience of a patient in her care dying, to the miraculous “appearances” of loved ones after death — knowing that it could bring comfort to anyone who has suffered the loss of a loved one or who has tried to make sense of the finality of death. Written by a scientist in simple, nonjudgmental language, Forever Ours explores a reassuring world beyond the limits of the physical.

Dispensationalism

Charles Ryrie

Amazon Price: $10.19 List Price: $14.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Moody Publishers Amazon Marketplace: 38 new & used starting at $6.50

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Christianity -> Theology -> Eschatology
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Christianity -> Theology -> General
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Christianity -> Theology -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 31 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Biblical & Well Worth the Wait! 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 8 people found this review helpful.

Thanks to C.C. Ryrie for setting the record straight on normative dispensationalism in his 2007 Revised and Expanded edition! His study is first, and above all, biblical, all the while remaining scholarly, lucid, and irenic. At the same time, he also sets forth the many problems that continue to plague all forms of covenant theology, and "progressive" & ultra dispensationalism. I admire the plea he gives at the end of the book, and his diplomacy in dealing with other believers--even when they use words like "unscriptural", "heresy", and "cult" when describing normative dispensationalism.

The strength of the normative dispensational position that Ryrie, and others like him, outline is that it relies on the Bible as its source, and in that, it "employs principles of literal, plain, normal, or historical-grammatical interpretation consistently." As such, we can heartily concur with the author when he shows us that, "Only dispensationalism can maintain unity and diversity at the same time and offer a consistent system of interpretation." And also, "Only dispensationalism with its cross-sectional and longitudinal/spiral perspectives can recognize the wealth, mobility, and complexity of the history of God's running the affairs of this world."

Requirements of Normative Dispensationalism
According to Ryrie, the "underlying purpose" of God in the world is the "glory of God" and he puts it this way, "To the normative dispensationalist, the soteriological, or saving, program of God is not the only program but one of the means God is using in the total program of glorifying Himself. Scripture is not man-centered as though salvation were the main theme [the covenant position], but it is God-centered because His glory is the center. The Bible itself clearly teaches that salvation, important and wonderful as it is, is not and end in itself but is rather a means to the end of glorifying God (Eph. 1:6, 12, 14)." Renald Showers makes the same point in his excellent work entitled There Really Is a Difference!: A Comparison of Covenant and Dispensational Theology.

John F. Walvoord is quoted also on this point, "All the events of the created world are designed to manifest the glory of God. The error of covenant theologians is that they combine all the many facets of divine purpose in the one objective of the fulfillment of the covenant of grace. From a logical standpoint, this is the reductive error--the use of one aspect of the whole as the determining element." It is noteworthy that this is also their error in the development the Calvinist TULIP as well.

Literal hermeneutics: 1) Philosophically, the purpose of language itself seems to require a literal interpretation. 2) All Old Testament prophesies concerning the first advent of Christ--His birth, His rearing, His ministry, His death, His resurrection--were all fulfilled literally. 3) [Logically], if one does not use the plain, normal, or literal method of interpretation, all objectivity is lost.

To summate Ryrie posits, "Literal interpretation results in accepting the text of Scripture at its face value. Based on the philosophy that God originated language for the purpose of communicating His message to man and that He intended man to understand that message, literal interpretation seeks to interpret that message plainly."

Dr. Ryrie sums up the crux of the matter well in the following statement, "The essence of dispensationalism, then, is the distinction between Israel and the church. This grows out of the dispensationalist's consistent employment of normal or plain or historical-grammatical interpretation, and it reflects an understanding of the basic purpose of God in all His dealing with mankind as that of glorifying Himself through salvation and other purposes as well."

In succeeding chapters, Dr. Ryrie also does a first-rate job in dealing with some perennial false accusations against dispensationalism in regards to; the Sermon on the Mount, two ways of salvation, the relationship of Mosaic Law to Grace (the charge of antinomianism), minimizing the Cross, and despiritualizing the kingdom. In fact, the author turns the tables on the anti-dispensational inquisitors and puts them on their own rack!

Progressive Covenantal Theology (PC)
In Dr. Ryrie's section on what has been commonly called "Progressive" dispensationalism, we see that this label is a misnomer and that their system is actually little more than Covenant Theology dressed up in sheep's clothing. This is what happens when theologians abandon a single and consistent normative hermeneutic for all of Scripture and start to grab a hold of allegory (in Clinton-speak they spin it as "complementary"). No doubt, this is exacerbated by the academic world's tendency to constantly push Profs to "publish", something or anything, in order to gain tenure or to make a name for themselves and distinguish themselves from the pack.

Even though Ryrie tends to call them "revisionists" in this work, I think we should use more accurate labels like "Neo-dispensational", or possibly "Progressive Premillennial", or still better "Progressive Covenantal". In any case, it is getting harder and harder to distinguish them from the Premill Covenant camp. Bock admits that their PC concept of the kingdom is essentially what George Ladd promotes in his Premill Covenant system.

Other problems: What of the Palestinian covenant? What is their view on the Rapture? Ryrie seems to think that with their complementary hermeneutic the rapture of the church is moving into the tribulation period. Another troubling sign in the PC view of holistic redemption is their heightened concentration on "social action". The social gospel issue is really gaining traction these days as seen in the revision process of the EFCA's statement of faith. The author also quotes one PC advocate, D.L. Turner, who has already advocated replacement theology.

Concerning what Ryrie calls their "major departure" is their view on the Davidic reign. Based on this "already/not yet" paradigm (oxymoron?) used by the PC people, Ryrie notes one ETS member who wrote a paper entitled, "Already Ladd--Not Yet Dispensationalism". In it he demonstrates the striking similarities of Ladd and Bock from quotes they have both made.

Ryrie goes on to list 4 non-dispensational critics as stating that PC has already changed, or at least is leading to Covenant Premillennialism. One of them, Vern Poythress, predicts that the PC position "is inherently unstable. I do not think that they will find it possible in the long run to create a safe haven theologically between classic dispensationalism and covenantal premillennialism. The forces that their own observations have set in motion will most likely lead to covenantal premillennialism after the pattern of George Ladd."

Dr. Ryrie rightly suggests that the PC people should take a hard look at themselves as even non-dispensationalists see them. Furthermore, I must agree with the conclusion that the "progressives/revisionists" have introduced "major changes" resulting in "a new and revised system", and are thus outside of normative dispensationalism. All that remains now is that they come out and publicly admit it. In any case, it will be interesting to see how schools like DTS handle this new movement.

"Historical" Premillennialism
What Dr. Ryrie more accurately calls Covenant Premillennial theology (Laddism), with its double hermeneutic, is shown to have a severely weakened view of the verbal, plenary inspiration of Scripture. See also David Hesselgrave's Paradigms in Conflict: 10 Key Questions in Christian Missions Today. To be frank, the "historic" premillennialism label, like "progressive", is another attempt to delude people into thinking their system is something it is not. Since Ryrie, and even Covenant theologians, show their system has many holes that are yet to be filled, their adoption of the "historic" label belies their dependence on supposed historical evidence as the main pillar for support of their system.
J. Ramsey Michaels, a non-dispensationalist, critiques CP as not having an integrated concept of the millennium. Renald Showers has also shown how the CP system still cannot find a way to populate their millennial kingdom. Maybe they are still working on it...

Covenant Replacement Theology (CT)
It is shown from numerous sources (not all dispensational), that covenant theology is guilty of an artificial system of typology, allegorizing Scripture, and reading back or forcing the New Testament into the Old Testament. Their allegorizing hermeneutic is used for approximately one third of the Bible! Other unresolved problems: How many covenants are there supposed to be anyway? Where are they stated in the Bible? Is it 2 or 3 these days? Did the church start with Adam, or Abraham? If not Adam, what "body" were those before Abraham part of?

In defending dispensationalism against the charge of "recency", or "newness", Ryrie shows us that as far as systemization goes, Johannes Cocceius' version of CT came out in 1648. On the other hand, Poiret's systemization of dispensationalism came shortly after in 1687. It is true that the seeds of CT were sown as far back as St. Augustine when he adopted allegorical interpretation, but that was a far cry from the CT that started gaining acceptance for the first time in the Westminster Confession of 1647 and one year before Cocceius published. History shows that premillennialism was the accepted view on eschatology by the church at least until St. Augustine. Even in the Reformers' time, CT was not developed, but Calvin called premillennialism (chiliasm) "fiction", "insult", and "intolerable blasphemy". Things haven't changed much... Anyway, as Dr. Ryrie has stated elsewhere, "Always, of course, the conclusive evidence of the truth of a doctrine is not historical but exegetical."

Under Ryrie's "Biblical Basis for Covenant Theology", we really see how the CT system is based entirely on a deductive and not an inductive method of study. Ever since St. Augustine started allegorizing Scripture and mentioned that the Roman Church is the fulfillment of prophecy, they have been trying to squeeze the Bible back into the covenant of works and grace. For more insights on the benefits of the inductive method, see C. Gordon Olson's Beyond Calvinism and Arminianism: An Inductive, Mediate Theology of Salvation.

In closing, I have one criticism about getting our "labels" straight. On page 214 Ryrie states, "Noncharismatic dispensationalists accept some of the points of Reformed theology, whereas charismatic dispensationalists would not." If by "Reformed" he really means "TULIP" then I would emphatically disagree. Many, if not the majority, of "Noncharismatic dispensationalists" do not accept any of the 5-points of Calvinism as defined by Calvinists in the TULIP. This does not make them Arminians either. For example, we must remember that in the TULIP Total Depravity means Total Inability and not just that all have sinned. In addition, Perseverance of the Saints is not be equated with the biblical doctrine of Eternal Security. Dr. Ryrie is a 4-point Biblicist based on his acceptance of Calvinistic Unconditional Election. In any case, I am glad to see in this more recent work of his an apparent movement away from using any form of the "Calvinist" label for himself. I hope more will follow his lead.

Dr. Ryrie's work in defending normative dispensationalism is one that the critics won't be able to ignore. We look forward to their reply. For the rest of us, the importance of this book is becoming increasingly clear as we see Biblicism coming under siege in many of our seminaries and denominations. We all need to be prepared for the adverse impact of these movements on believers. At the same time we need to continue to follow Dr. Ryrie's example and represent believers under Grace and not Law by setting forth Biblicism and "speaking the truth in love".

For more information on this subject, I also highly recommend Renald Showers' There Really Is a Difference!: A Comparison of Covenant and Dispensational Theology. In addition, Ryrie's section on "Things to Come" in his Basic Theology: A Popular Systematic Guide to Understanding Biblical Truth, along with the wealth of material he acknowledges this book's "Select Bibliography".

Editorial Review:

Dispensationalism is a framework for

understanding the Bible, teaching that

God has dealt with man historically in different

administrations or “dispensations.”

It maintains a radical distinction between

Israel and the Church—that there are two

peoples of God with two different destinies—

and it distinguishes between the

Rapture and the Second Coming of Christ

(that one precedes the other by seven

years of tribulation). Taught at Dallas

Theological Seminary and Moody Bible

Institute among others, dispensationalism

still provokes debate within the Christian

world. In this bestseller, Ryrie makes a

complex subject understandable.

From Daniel to Doomsday: The Countdown Has Begun

John Hagee

Amazon Price: $10.19 List Price: $14.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Thomas Nelson Amazon Marketplace: 44 new & used starting at $4.25

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Authors, A-Z -> ( H ) -> Hagee, John
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Christianity -> Reference -> Prophecies
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Christianity -> Theology -> Eschatology

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 23 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

These are all the same 1 out of 5 stars.
7 of 44 people found this review helpful.

Whether it's the 'Left Behind' series, (such a charming title), or 'Countdown to Doomsday' or any of the other blood and thunder books, you can count on one thing: God is mad as hell at all of us, (except the 'chosen') and is going to unleash a fury against his archenemy Satan. The great cosmic battle will be played out at Armeggedon where Satan and God will will duke it out in front of the whole world. Well, most of the world. The elect will be taken by rapture into Heaven safely ensconced away from the raging, bloody battle.

Eventually, most of the world will be tossed into a flaming, eternal pit of torture for an eternity, while the saved get to look down on the agony of the unsaved and stick their tongues out: nyah-nyah! I just wonder if when Hagee sees Christ he will yell JJJJEEEEEEZSZZZZUUUUUUUSSS like he does on television.

And all this mind you, in the name of the Prince of Peace.

Editorial Review:

John Hagee says, "The world as we know it will end, neither with a bang nor a whimper, but in stages clearly set forth in God's Word." His latest and most provocative book takes a cue from a cultural icon, the ticking clock. Hagee presents a prophetic "Doomsday Clock" and counts down the minutes--through prophetic events--which must occur before that fateful moment when every unredeemed individual must face God on Judgment Day. Citing examples from national and international media and using Scripture to confirm his insights, he presents a compelling argument to prove that time is indeed running out.

Case for Amillennialism, A: Understanding the End Times

Kim Riddlebarger

Amazon Price: $12.91 List Price: $18.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Baker Books Amazon Marketplace: 34 new & used starting at $6.00

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Bible & Other Sacred Texts -> General
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Bible & Other Sacred Texts -> General AAS
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Christianity -> Reference -> Prophecies

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 39 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Amillennialism, dispensational premillennialism, historic premillennialism, postmillennialism, preterism. These are difficult words to pronounce and even harder concepts to understand. A Case for Amillennialism presents an accessible look at the crucial theological question of the millennium in the context of contemporary evangelicalism. This study defends amillennialism as the historic Protestant understanding of the millennial age. Amillennarians believe that the millennium of Christ's heavenly reign is a present reality, not a future hope to come after his return. Recognizing that eschatology, the study of future things, is a complicated and controversial subject, Riddlebarger provides definitions of key terms and a helpful overview of various viewpoints. He examines related biblical topics as a backdrop to understanding the subject and discusses important passages of Scripture that bear upon the millennial age, including Daniel 9, Matthew 24, Romans 11, and Revelation 20. Regardless of their stance, readers will find helpful insight as Riddlebarger evaluates the main problems facing each of the major millennial positions and cautions readers to be aware of the spiraling consequences of each view.

Global Warning: Are We on the Brink of World War III?

Tim LaHaye, Ed Hindson

Amazon Price: $11.19 List Price: $13.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Harvest House Publishers Amazon Marketplace: 28 new & used starting at $9.06

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Authors, A-Z -> ( L ) -> Lahaye, Tim -> General
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Authors, A-Z -> ( L ) -> Lahaye, Tim -> Paperback
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Authors, A-Z -> ( L ) -> Lahaye, Tim -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Same old LaHaye 2 out of 5 stars.
5 of 6 people found this review helpful.

If you have read any of LaHaye's previous commentaries on end time prophecy, you have already read most of this book. He rehashes a little bit of middle east current events and fits it into the Gog - Magog prophecies. You're read it before. If you haven't read any of LaHaye's stuff before you would be better starting with his "Revelation Unvieled" in which he presents his eschatological arguments in a straight forward very readable fashion.

Editorial Review:

Prophecy experts Tim LaHaye, author of the mega–bestselling Left Behind series, and Ed Hindson team up in Global Warning —now in trade paper—to write this powerful report on the earth’s final hour.

For ages people have speculated about how the world will end. How can we discern the real clues from the many false alarms? LaHaye and Hindson examine ancient Bible prophecies in light of today’s news headlines and provide a panoramic survey of the final signs that will serve as God’s global warning to the people of all nations. Jesus promised He would someday return to Earth to bring judgment and set up His kingdom. He even reveals specific details about what will happen.

What are those details? What can we expect? Will terrorism, nuclear threats, and the Middle East crisis have a part? Are there other clues we may have missed? This captivating page–turner is a book with an urgent message for Christians and non–Christians alike!

Heaven & Hell

Emanuel Swedenborg

List Price: $20.00 By: Swedenborg Foundation Publishers Amazon Marketplace: 2 new & used starting at $15.00

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Christianity -> Theology -> Eschatology
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Other Practices -> Mysticism
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 25 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A thought provoking book 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

I first became acquainted with Emanuel Swedenborg, through Helen Keller's book, My Religion. Eventually my daughter and I were baptized in The New Church.

There are different interpretations to Swedenborg's writings, but here are a few basic ideas.
*Swedenborg did not want a church started in his name. He thought it would be better if his writings were incorporated into the existing churches.
His church did not exist when he was alive.
*Evil exists because it helps you understand what is good.
*One basic purpose in life is to be USEFUL to others.
*Hell is not for ever. If you end up there you can get out.
*There are different levels to hell and heaven.
*The traditional concept of trinity is wrong. It divides God too much.
Swedenborg communicated with different spirits. He believed that it was useful to analyzed dreams. Swedenborg believed that different religions led to God. For most of this life Swedenborg was a scientist, who worked for the king of Sweden. Latter in life he had a spiritually awakening. He was a genius, ahead of his time.
I have also read True Christian Religion volumes I & II as well. I am not a scholar on Swedenborg, but I have studied him since the 1980's. Not everyone in his church believes in the conclusions that I have come to. Many of the twelve step program ideas are from Swedenborg's teachings.
If you decide to read Swedenborg, be sure you obtain a good translation.
George Dole is a good translator.

Editorial Review:

Published in 1758, best-known of Swedenborg's works; describes the nature of life after death and of the internal state, or "ruling love," of the individual that determines his or her situation in the afterlife.

The History of Hell

Alice K. Turner

List Price: $29.95 By: Harcourt Brace & Company Amazon Marketplace: 53 new & used starting at $3.45

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> World Literature -> Mythology -> General
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> World Literature -> Mythology -> General AAS
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Philosophy -> Religious

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 20 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Thorough, but misses some important facts 4 out of 5 stars.
15 of 16 people found this review helpful.

The subject matter on this book is, by nature, rather on the dark side. I had to take it in small doses because it can be depressing to focus heavily on this sort of thing. On the other hand, it was well researched, thorough, and highly-informative.
Where I think Ms. Turner lost some direction is in her conclusion that Christianity teaches the doctrine of a fiery, burning hell. Yes, I know - many churches in Christendom do teach this as a doctrine - and most Bible translations translate the original language words 'hades', 'Gehenna', and 'sheol' as "Hell" or "Hellfire". but with careful (and honest) research, it becomes apparent that Bible translators (Not the bible writers)have been heavily influenced by paganism and writers such as Dante (1265 to 1321 AD).
Consider, for example one of the Greek words translated as "Hellfire": 'Gehenna' This is the Greek spelling of the Hebrew, "ge-Hinnom", or the "Valley of Hinnom". This valley, located southwest of Jerusalem, takes its name from a man, whose name was Hinnom and his sons who apparently came to own this property. It was in this valley that wicked kings, Ahaz and Manasseh sacrificed their children in the fire as an offering to Baal (2 Chronicles 28:3; 33:6). Of this practice, God said, "To burn their sons and their daughters with fire, which I did not command, nor did it come up on My heart." (Jeremiah 7:31). In this valley, these kings also practiced witchcraft, sorcery, divination, and also built up "high places" in worship of false Gods. Later, Josiah had parts of this valley polluted to render it unfit for any such practices in the future. In Jesus' day, the Valley of Hinnom was being used as a garbage dump.
There is a curious anomaly however, that seems to affect many, if not most translations of the Bible. Using the King James Version as an example, in the Hebrew Old Testament, the words ge-Hinnom occur thirteen times, and each time, it is translated as the `valley of Hinnom'. Yet, when the Hebrew words ge-Hinnom are transliterated into Greek, Gehenna, the KJV translators consistently render the word as `Hell'. Why is this word recognized as a geographical region in the Old Testament, but, in the New Testament, as a place of fiery burning torment? Is there a valid basis for the "hell fire" rendering? To answer those questions, we need to look carefully at the Bible passages in which it occurs, the context of the time, and also at the audience to whom those words were addressed.
Of the twelve New Testament passages where Gehenna is used, eleven are in the synoptic gospels - Matthew, Mark, and Luke. All of these quote Jesus' words. The other Gehenna passage is in James 3:6. Of these verses, five mention fire as an element of Gehenna. The sense of judgment, condemnation, or destruction is present in most of these verses. Probably, for this reason, translators take the passages as a metaphor or description of `hellfire', but is it possible that there could be another explanation that better harmonizes with God's quality of love? Yes.
Keep in mind that this is a Hebrew word, and, in each case, Jesus was speaking to Jews. These Jews were certainly familiar with Jerusalem and its surroundings, including the nearby Valley of Hinnom, which, as previously stated, was used as a garbage dump. Here, fires were constantly kept burning as a means of consuming the refuse and the smoke from those fires would have been an constant feature of its
presence, and visible from considerable
distance. Sulfur, or brimstone was regularly thrown into the fires to accelerate the burning. That which was not destroyed by the fire was eaten by the worms or maggots, thus Jesus' words in Mark 9:47, "where their worm is not dying and the fire is not being quenched." must be taken as a literal description of conditions in the Valley of Hinnom. But how is that connected with the idea of punishment?
The fact is that, not only trash was consumed in the fires of Gehenna, but also the carcasses of animals and the bodies of executed criminals were thrown into the fires to be burned up and forever destroyed. Never were live people thrown into Gehenna to be tortured. In Jewish belief, future life depended upon the restoration of the whole person through a resurrection. Normally, dead bodies were always buried - never cremated, to allow for this resurrection to take place. To completely destroy a person's body in Gehenna meant that he was considered unworthy of being resurrected at any time in the future. To be thrown into Gehenna would, to Jesus' Jewish listeners, signify a permanent death without any hope of future life, forever cut off from God. There could be no worse punishment than this.
I could address the word hades also, but space does not permit here.
The point is: Christendom's doctrine of Hellfire is based on pagan influences and tradition - but it is not a Biblical teaching.
Maybe Ms. Turner should consider adding a statement in her book to the effect that Christendom adopted their hellfire beliefs from ancient non-biblical sources. On the other hand, anyone reading this book should logically come to that conclusion on their own.

Editorial Review:

A survey of four thousand years of belief in Hell reveals how religious leaders, poets, painters, and ordinary people--including Homer, Dante, Blake, and Freud--have visualized the den of the Devil. National ad/promo. Tour.

Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium

Bart D. Ehrman

Amazon Price: $60.00 List Price: $60.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Oxford University Press, USA Amazon Marketplace: 44 new & used starting at $3.48

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Christianity -> Jesus -> General
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Christianity -> Jesus -> General AAS
Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Christianity -> Reference -> Biographies -> New Testament

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 36 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Few biographical works spark passions as intensely as do interpretations of the life of Jesus. In this highly accessible book, Bart Ehrman reviews the latest textual and archeological research into Jesus's life and the history of first-century Palestine, and draws a fascinating, controversial portrait of the man and his teachings.
Jesus, Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium seeks to show general readers what historians have long known about the Gospels and the man who stands behind them. Through a careful evaluation of the New Testament Gospels and other surviving sources, including the more recently discovered Gospels of Thomas and Peter, Ehrman proposes that Jesus can be best understood as an apocalyptic prophet, a man convinced that the world would end dramatically within his lifetime, and that a new kingdom would be created on earth--a just and peaceful kingdom ruled by a benevolent God. According to Ehrman, Jesus's belief in a coming apocalypse and his expectation of an utter reversal in the world's social organization underscores not only the radicalism of his teachings, but also sheds light on both the appeal of his message to society's outcasts and the threat he posed to the established leadership in Jerusalem.
In this sharply-written and persuasive book, Ehrman suggests that the apocalyptic fervor that perpetually grips large segments of society is nothing new. Indeed, history's many doomsayers, including those today who are frantic about the approaching millennium, are close in spirit and thinking to Jesus, who waited in vain for the imminent arrival of a new kingdom of peace.