Hell? No!: Why You Can Be Certain There Is No Such Place As Hell by Rick LannoyeMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Book: ***
Performance: ***
An Ironic Tilt at Christian Neo-Fundamentalists
Neo-fundamentalists are rather famously known for their literal reading of select portions of scripture … which is exactly what happens here as well, just with a different selection. While I am very sympathetic to the concept here, the author’s support becomes problematic by the use of poor academic research and questionable exegesis. For example, in attempt to highlight the influence of Persian Zoroastrianism, we get a complete erroneous connection between the term and the word Farsi (aka Persian) … when in fact, it is known to be related to the Hebrew pārūš which is commonly interpreted as pious or separate. Then we get an introduction to Sheol, the early Hebrew concept of death and/or the grave, having two levels or compartments … a concept that was only developed in the apocalyptic literature of the late Second Temple period (circa 200 BCE) showing the author has a tenuous grasp of how such concept actually evolve over time. In fact, the Book of Enoch divides Sheol into four levels … but this was conveniently ignored by the author. However, despite all of that, there is some truth behind the idea that the Jewish understanding of Sheol development through some syncretism with other world-views (such as Greek and Persian). In addition, there is no effort to actually separate potential legend/myth with actual practice … which is painfully clear in the treatment of Gehenna and its association with the tophet (of which there is no archaeological support in or around Jerusalem … which includes the valley of Hinnom). To be fair … a lot of the basic facts appear to be accurate, with just some of the minor details slightly off …
The problem here is that Christianity is an incredibly diverse religion, so using neo-fundamentalists as a proxy is just lazy and allows the author to completely ignore the centuries of tradition and debate within the early Church that actually does address many of these questions … in fact, even when some of these beliefs are referenced in his straw man arguments, they are so incredibly erroneous (ref: Limbo et al) that it is not surprising that any conclusions are based upon faulty theology … and this is extremely sad because many of the questions raised are good ones. This is all exacerbated by an extremely sarcastic (at times even mocking) and antagonistic presentation that is highly likely to put many readers immediately on the defensive. Frankly he ascribes way too much conspiracy level credit to the motivations of christian clergy to be taken seriously.
Finally … the narrative was often awkward and even irritating (with some incorrect pronunciations and slurred enunciation), making it difficult to dispassionately evaluate some of the silly antics and fallacies presented (IOW I was ROFLOL … a lot :-).
The chapters and sections in this work are:
Introduction (12:58)
Chapter 1 - Where Did Hell Come From? (1:35:40)
Chapter 2 - Why Heaven is Impossible If There is a Hell (59:19)
Chapter 3 - Did Jesus Believe in Hell? (1:19:03)
Chapter 3b - Did Jesus Believe in Hell? Part B (1:16:23)
Chapter 4 - Is Hell Necessary for the Sake of Justice? (56:59)
Chapter 5 - Why Didn’t God Keep Hell a Secret? (3:41)
Chapter 6 - Why Pascal Didn’t Wager for Ammit? (28:26)
Chapter 7 - What Evangelization Would Be Like Without Hell (10:52)
Chapter 8 - Why Hell Retards Morality (35:05)
Chapter 9 - The Day of Judgement (47:09)
I was given this free advance review/listener copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
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