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

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

by R. Zachary Manis
Sinners in the Presence of a Loving God: An Essay on the Problem of Hell

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

by R. Zachary Manis

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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: 9780190929251
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publication date: 07/01/2019
Pages: 434
Product dimensions: 6.50(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.60(d)

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 xi

Introduction 1

Criteria for an Adequate Solution 2

Theodicy vs. Defense 9

Part I Developing the Problem

1 The Problem of Justice, The Problem of Love 15

The Problem of Justice 18

An Uncommon Solution: Shedd 18

The Popular Response: Aquinas 22

A Revised Version of the Response 25

Problems for the Revised Response 26

An Alternative Strategy: Denying that God Has Obligations 29

Remaining Options 36

The Problem of Love 39

2 The Doxastic Problem 47

Preliminaries 47

Doxastic Problems 53

The Problem of Coercion 53

The Problem of Neighbor Love 57

The Problem of Worship 60

The Problem of Religious Motivation 61

The Problem of Despair 63

Addendum: Additional Problems for Calvinists and Other Theological Determinists 67

The Extreme Version of the Problem of Justice 68

The Extreme Version of the Problem of Love 76

Further Doxastic Problems 80

The Problem of Faith 81

The Problem of Hope 87

Part II The Standard Options

3 Traditionalism and Universalism 95

Traditionalism 95

Universalism 104

The Case for Universalism 106

Talbott on Love and Justice 108

Adams on Horrendous Evil and the Metaphysical "Size Gap" 112

4 Providence, Freedom, and God's Creation of the Damned 117

The Free Will Argument Against Universalism 117

Molinism and Universalism 120

Why Does God Create the Damned? 125

Molinist Anti-Universalism (M-AU) 126

A Nonstandard Account of Providence: McCann 134

Open Theist Anti-Universalism (OT-AU) 142

The Tradition Trilemma 146

Why Not Universalism? 154

5 Annihilationism 159

Internal Disputes 160

Retributive Annihilationism 166

Non-Retributive Annihilationism 168

Natural Consequence Annihilationism (NCA) 168

Objections to NCA 176

Free Will Annihilationism (FWA) 181

Objections to FWA 184

6 The Choice Model 193

The Direct Form 195

Help from Kierkegaard 197

The Role of Self-Deception 201

The Indirect Form 207

More Help from Kierkegaard 208

Why Not Annihilation? 213

Answer #1: Annihilation as Undesirable to the Damned 215

Answer #2: Annihilation as Indefeasibly Bad 218

Answer #3: The Soul as Inherently Indestructible 223

Answer #4: Humans as Essentially Immortal 225

In Defense of the Kierkegaardian Answer 227

Why Not the Choice Model? 233

Part III The Divine Presence Model

7 Developing an Alternative to the Standard Options 245

Return to the Tripartite Structure 246

Introducing the Divine Presence Model 247

Help from Eastern Orthodoxy 250

Divine Omnipresence and Divine Hiddenness 256

Divine Hiddenness as Necessary for Human Freedom 259

Divine Hiddenness as a Natural Consequence of Sin 269

Hiddenness on the Divine Presence Model 273

The Phenomenology of Religious Experience and the Fear of the Lord 280

Retribution and Eternal Punishment 285

8 Objections, Replies, and Further Refinements 289

Addressing Standard and Shared Problems 289

Solutions in Common with the Choice Model 291

A (Possible) Point of Difference 294

Why Not Annihilation? 298

Why Not Eternal Divine Hiddenness? 302

Hybrid Views 306

Baker 308

Lewis 312

Kvanvig 316

Walls 318

Talbott 320

The Inescapable Love of God 331

Conclusion 337

Beyond the Day of Judgment 339

Appendix: Is the Divine Presence Model Biblical? 341

The Scriptural Record of Close Encounters with God 342

Christ the Way 346

Unveiling the Heart 346

The Face of God 353

Christ the Truth 357

Jesus and the Pharisees 358

Light and Darkness 362

Does Christ Come to Judge, or Not? 369

Christ the Life 374

The Curse of Death 377

The Destruction of Hades 382

The River of Fire and the River of Life 386

Bibliography 393

Index 405

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