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The History of Hell
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$ 19.36
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| Retail Value |
$ 22.00 |
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$ 2.64 (12%) |
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| Item Number |
160568 |
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Item Description...
A “lively...generously illustrated” (Washington Post Book World) survey of how, over the past four thousand years, religious leaders, artists, writers, and ordinary people in the West have visualized Hell-its location, architecture, purpose, and inhabitants. Illustrations; full-color inserts.
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Item Specifications...
Pages 288
Dimensions: Length: 0.75" Width: 7" Height: 10"
Weight: 1.65 lbs.
Binding Softcover
Publisher Harvest Books
ISBN 0156001373
EAN 9780156001373
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Availability 3 units.
Availability accurate as of May 23, 2012 04:55.
Usually ships within one to two business days from Momence, IL.
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Reviews - What do our customers think?
 | Absolutely Loved It Feb 5, 2008 |
| This witty book was worth every penny. I absolutely loved reading it, and you will too. Academic, highly informative, but not dry. | | |  | confusing Dec 27, 2007 |
This book is extremely confusing. She throws out so many names and religions in such a short frame that it's impossible to follow along. You basically have to already have a good knowledge of all the religions she is talking about to understand what is going on. I had no knowledge of any religions prior to reading this book and it left me very confused.
I only managed to read about 60 pages before I had to completely stop. I cannot believe how many positive reviews this book has. | | |  | Hell is very colorful,yes it is,very hellish and interesting too! Apr 7, 2007 |
| This is a wonderfully artistic treatment of Hell as a concept. It is clearly researched and presented just as the title says, a clearly defined historical presentation of just what the hell, Hell is supposed to look like and be like according to the available literature.It is a review of Hell with a multi-religious and cultural perspective.Most religions are clearly covered and their past and current viewpoints about what they consider to be the final resting place of the worlds evil people.It is loaded with artistic reproductions of most of the major painters' visions and interpretations of what Hell looks like.There are scenes aside from Dante and Dore to sample from.It reads well and there is always something to look at so it staves off the occasional boredom.Devils,demons,hells of all kinds as well as apocalyptic visions are here to peruse.This is a very good starting point for the study of Hell as a place,a concept,a possible reality after death.Turner does a good job. As others have mentioned,it could almost be a coffee table book because of its smooth,slick and colorfully, artsy presentation.This does not take away from its merit. Trust me it's a good book and definitely worth having. It's a welcome addition to any library that would have this subject matter as a friend.It is clearly defined,unpretentious and a sturdy reference book,worthy of purchase. You'll be pleased. | | | | Thorough, but misses some important facts Jan 28, 2007 |
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. | | | | Well researched and well deployed. Dec 17, 2006 |
This is a wonderful book for anyone that is interested in the many versions of Hell. This book is also extremely interesting for anyone interested in the darker side of classical literature; which is where the author pulls most of the examples from.
The book is set up chronologically. The author cites many possible origins of hell as well as elucidating some delightful etymological roots of the word Hell. The book progresses throughout western history epoch by epoch, sometimes dedicating entire sections to authors like Dante and Goethe.
The writing style, as addressed by former reviewers, is distracting only if you are looking for an academic tone, which it doesn't have. The writing style is more chummy, warm. I think it is more than appropriate considering the heavy subject matter that the author took on. The book overall is an enlightening piece of work that doubles as a wonderful reference for any history or literature students that may interested. | | | Write your own review about The History of Hell
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