Sinners in the Presence of a Loving God: An Essay on the Problem of Hell

by R. Zachary Manis

Overview

Why would a perfectly good and loving God consign anyone to eternal suffering in hell? In Sinners in the Presence of a Loving God, R. Zachary Manis examines in detail the various facets of the problem of hell, considers the reasons why the usual responses to the problem are unsatisfying, and suggests how an adequate solution to the problem can be constructed. Historically, there are four standard explanations of the nature and purpose of hell: traditionalism, annihilationism, the choice model, and universalism. In Manis's assessment, all are deficient in some crucial respect. The alternative view that he develops and defends, the divine presence model, stands within the tradition that understands hell to be a state of eternal conscious suffering, but, Manis contends, avoids the worst problems of its competitors. The key idea is that the suffering of hell is not the result of a divine act that aims to inflict it, but rather is the way in which a sinful creature necessarily experiences the unmitigated presence of a holy God. Heaven and hell are not two "places" to which the saved and damned are consigned, respectively, but rather are two radically different ways in which different persons will experience the same reality of God's omnipresence once the barrier of divine hiddenness is finally removed.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780190929275
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	06/03/2019
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	432
File size:	826 KB

About the Author

R. Zachary Manis (Ph.D., Baylor) is Professor of Philosophy at Southwest Baptist University. He is the co-author, with C. Stephen Evans, of Philosophy of Religion: Thinking About Faith, Second Edition. Manis lives in Bolivar, Missouri, with his wife Lisa and three children, Solomon, Nora, and Emmaline.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments Introduction Criteria for an Adequate Solution Theodicy vs. Defense Part I: Developing the Problem Chapter One: The Problem of Justice, The Problem of Love The Problem of Justice An Uncommon Solution: Shedd The Popular Response: Aquinas A Revised Version of the Response Problems for the Revised Response An Alternative Strategy: Denying that God Has Obligations Remaining Options The Problem of Love Chapter Two: The Doxastic Problem Preliminaries Doxastic Problems The Problem of Coercion The Problem of Neighbor Love The Problem of Worship The Problem of Religious Motivation The Problem of Despair Addendum: Additional Problems for Calvinists and Other Theological Determinists The Extreme Version of the Problem of Justice The Extreme Version of the Problem of Love Further Doxastic Problems The Problem of Faith The Problem of Hope Part II: The Standard Options Chapter Three: Traditionalism and Universalism Traditionalism Universalism The Case for Universalism Talbott on Love and Justice Adams on Horrendous Evil and the Metaphysical "Size Gap" Chapter Four: Providence, Freedom, and God's Creation of the Damned The Free Will Argument against Universalism Molinism and Universalism Why Does God Create the Damned? Molinist Anti-Universalism (M-AU) A Nonstandard Account of Providence: McCann Open Theist Anti-Universalism (OT-AU) The Tradition Trilemma Why Not Universalism? Chapter Five: Annihilationism Internal Disputes Retributive Annihilationism Non-Retributive Annihilationism Natural Consequence Annihilationism (NCA) Objections to NCA Free Will Annihilationism (FWA) Objections to FWA Chapter Six: The Choice Model The Direct Form Help from Kierkegaard The Role of Self-Deception The Indirect Form More Help from Kierkegaard Why Not Annihilation? Answer #1: Annihilation as Undesirable to the Damned Answer #2: Annihilation as Indefeasibly Bad Answer #3: The Soul as Inherently Indestructible Answer #4: Humans as Essentially Immortal In Defense of the Kierkegaardian Answer Why Not the Choice Model? Part III: The Divine Presence Model Chapter Seven: Developing an Alternative to the Standard Options Return to the Tripartite Structure Introducing the Divine Presence Model Help from Eastern Orthodoxy Divine Omnipresence and Divine Hiddenness Divine Hiddenness as Necessary for Human Freedom Divine Hiddenness as a Natural Consequence of Sin Hiddenness on the Divine Presence Model The Phenomenology of Religious Experience and the Fear of the Lord Retribution and Eternal Punishment Chapter Eight: Objections, Replies, and Further Refinements Addressing Standard and Shared Problems Solutions in Common with the Choice Model A (Possible) Point of Difference Why Not Annihilation? Why Not Eternal Divine Hiddenness? Hybrid Views Baker Lewis Kvanvig Walls Talbott The Inescapable Love of God Conclusion Beyond the Day of Judgment Appendix: Is the Divine Presence Model Biblical? The Scriptural Record of Close Encounters with God Christ the Way Unveiling the Heart The Face of God Christ the Truth Jesus and the Pharisees Light and Darkness Does Christ Come to Judge, or Not? Christ the Life The Curse of Death The Destruction of Hades The River of Fire and the River of Life Bibliography Index

Editorial Reviews

"A short review of this kind cannot do justice to the subtlety, breath, readability, insightfulness and rigor of Manis's Sinners in the Presence of a Loving God. Suffice it to say that no theologian or philosopher who is interested in the doctrine of hell, and paradoxically being spiritually nourished by reflecting upon it, can afford not to read this theologically sensitive and ecumenical manuscript." — Jordan Wessling, Lindsey Wilson College, Columbia, International Journal of Systematic Theology

From the Publisher