Eliminating Satan and Hell: Affirming a Compassionate Creator-God

by V. Donald Emmel

Overview

This book is written for millions of people who have been taught to fear the myths of Satan and Hell, and millions of others who reject the concepts and wish reassurances. When a Lutheran groom and his lovely Harvard-educated bride stood before me, would she eventually go to Hell because she is a Hindu and not a Christian? Is there really a Satan and a Hell, and is our Creator that cruel? It was then that Donald Emmel began his intensive study of the myths of Satan and Hell. Emmel's research reveals that through misunderstandings and mistranslations we have ended up with a cranky, punishing Creator that is not in the Hebrew canon, nor the Gospels, nor the authentic letters of Paul. Emmel concludes that Jesus and Paul retained the Hebrew canon's concepts of hassatan as an adversary working with God, and sheol and gehenna as places of death. In explaining our world today, we must not fly in the face of the vast scientific knowledge, which we utilize but which the ancient mythmakers did not. The ancient myths of Satan as a destructive god, and Hell as punishment for sinners, no longer have validity in the world we now embrace and should therefore be eliminated from our theologies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781630872434
Publisher:	Wipf & Stock Publishers
Publication date:	01/07/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	198
File size:	453 KB

About the Author

V. Donald Emmel has been a university pastor at San Jose State University for twelve years, and for twenty-two years has been Presbyterian parish pastor in Oregon, Connecticut, and California. For several years he was the guest lecturer for Presbyterian students at Yale Divinity School.

Table of Contents

Preface vii

1 The Basics of Myth and Scriptural Formation 1

2 Life and Death in Ancient Myths 9

3 An Alternative Hebrew Community 17

4 Hebrew Myths of Systemic Evil 24

5 Hebrew Myths of Life, Death, and Sheol 31

6 Yahweh: Punitive or Compassionate? 36

7 Israel, a Monarchy or Servant? 46

8 Persian Myths and the Introduction of Satan 55

9 The Cradle for Apocalyptic Myths 68

10 Greek Myths of Tartarus and Hades 78

11 Search for a Different Understanding 84

12 Jewish Apocalyptic Myths 92

13 Daniel and the Oral Law 105

14 Jewish Sectarian Groups 109

15 First-Century Political Conflict 120

16 Paul on Satan, Sin, Hell, and Related Concepts 131

17 Satan in the Gospels 142

18 Hell in the Gospels 153

19 The Nature of the Creator-God 162

20 An Unsettled Christendom 166

21 Postscript 178

Bibliography 183

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Emmel's book offers an indispensable survey of the emergence of the concepts of Satan and hell as they appear in the writings of both the Old and New Testaments. By locating their origin in the myths that constructed the social and religious world of antiquity, Emmel discloses the contextual limitations of these mythical realities in their historical life-situation, and at the same time, their theological irrelevance for the world of today."
—Herman C. Waetjen, professor emeritus, San Francisco Theological Seminary, California

"Don Emmel is waging a long-overdue battle against the devil and his lair. His research shows how original Hebrew teachings changed when they were translated into Greek and then Latin, and how, once entrenched into doctrine, a complete reversal of Jesus's theology came to be standard Christian orthodoxy. Emmel thinks it's time to correct the record. You will agree with him as you close the book."
—Jack Batson, retired high school teacher, California

"Drawing on a wonderful pastoral sense and thorough scholarship, Emmel has helped free us from ideas of hell and Satan used to intimidate and control; and in the process has given a vision of a compassionate, loving God you and I can believe in."
—Jonathan Eastman, pastor, Presbyterian Church of Saint Helena, California (PCUSA)

Editorial Reviews

"Emmel's book offers an indispensable survey of the emergence of the concepts of Satan and hell as they appear in the writings of both the Old and New Testaments. By locating their origin in the myths that constructed the social and religious world of antiquity, Emmel discloses the contextual limitations of these mythical realities in their historical life-situation, and at the same time, their theological irrelevance for the world of today."
—Herman C. Waetjen, professor emeritus, San Francisco Theological Seminary, California

"Don Emmel is waging a long-overdue battle against the devil and his lair. His research shows how original Hebrew teachings changed when they were translated into Greek and then Latin, and how, once entrenched into doctrine, a complete reversal of Jesus's theology came to be standard Christian orthodoxy. Emmel thinks it's time to correct the record. You will agree with him as you close the book."
—Jack Batson, retired high school teacher, California

"Drawing on a wonderful pastoral sense and thorough scholarship, Emmel has helped free us from ideas of hell and Satan used to intimidate and control; and in the process has given a vision of a compassionate, loving God you and I can believe in."
—Jonathan Eastman, pastor, Presbyterian Church of Saint Helena, California (PCUSA)

From the Publisher