Alice K. Turner (1939–2015)

A look at the history of one of mankind's favorite obsessions. The author begins with pagan and other conceptions of hell, such as Zoroastrianism, and moves quickly toward the Jewish, then to the Christian, version of hell. She traces the changes in the perceptions of hell throughout the Christian era, and includes a great many color plates of artist renditions to show the changing landscape of hell and the evolving face of Satan. An easy read, but sometimes the author seems to take too much at face value. In this sort of book, it mostly doesn't matter because she is presenting a literary history, not a historical or scientific one, but it is a bit disconcerting to have the author state in a footnote that Russian oilmen heard the screams from hell as though it actually happened. Also, she does seem a bit unaware of some of the current evangelical apocalypticism, as she seems to believe that actual believe in hell ended by the beginning of the 20th century. This could perhaps be forgivable had the book been written in the 1960s or 1970s, but by the 1990s, the religious right had come roaring back to prominence, and good research should have indicated that there is, in fact, a strong contingent of people who believe in a literal hell (around 60% of Americans). Otherwise, a good read.… (mehr)

It's interesting. I was actually a little surprised at how engrossing this book was. I loved the way the author traced Hell from the polytheistic influence on the Christian perception, through the various theological and political influences until we arrived at our most modern interpretation. I particularly enjoyed some of the religious theories she cited and how they altered theology in various ways. Some of the facts she included were a fascinating surprise -- the book as a whole was just a delightful journey of discovery.

I have to admit, I also liked it because I could never pin the author's theological beliefs down. There were points when I thought she was Catholic, other times when I'd decided she must be atheist, and once or twice when I was convinced she was some fringe religion like Mormonism. I really appreciated this ambiguity, because it never felt as though she was coming at the topic from a biased direction.… (mehr)

I was disappointed but that is entirely my own fault - this is only an overview of how Hell picked up all its characteristics, since the Bible has surprisingly little to say about it. Much of what we think of as biblical is a weird mishmash of ancient religions, folk tales and literature - . It was certainly interesting but nothing was developed very much, so I intend to treat the book as a jumping off point for further research into the areas that interest me - less Swedenborg and more Zoroastrianism and medievalism. The prose is readable, the tone jaunty without being inappropriate and for the mildly interested, a great book. If you are interested in how Hell gained such a grasp on the Western imagination and, especially, some forms of American evangelicalism,then perhaps not.… (mehr)