Surprisingly many religiously serious people reject the doctrine of universal salvation on the pragmatic ground that it leads to moral and religious laxity. Withdraw the threat, and they doubt whether others--perhaps even themselves--would sustain the motivation for moral diligence and religious observance. My pastoral experience suggests, on the contrary, that the disproportionate threat of hell (see sections 2.2 and 2.3) produces despair that masquerades as skepticism, rebellion, and unbelief. If your father threatens to kill you if you disobey him, you may cower in terrorized submission, but may also (reasonably) run away from home. -Marilyn Adams, "The Problem of Hell: A Problem of Evil for Christians," in E. Stump, ed., Reasoned Faith: Essays in Philosophical Theology (Cornell University Press, 1993), p. 325
Marilyn McCord Adams on the Pragmatics of Hell (Keith)
Tuesday December 30, 2008
Categories: Theology
I'm hoping to get more substantial posts on the pragmatics of hell up soon, but for now, a--somewhat dated, and quite brief--report, based on her pastoral experience, from Marilyn McCord Adams (author of Horrendous Evils and the Goodness of God and of Christ and Horrors, both of which should be of great interest to many readers of this blog). This is from a section of Marilyn's essay, "The Problem of Hell" entitled "The Pragmatics of Universalism," but what she's really up to is comparing the pragmatics of universalism with my current topic, the pragmatics of fairly nasty doctrines of hell:
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Tony Jones is the author of many books, including The New Christians: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier and The Sacred Way: Spiritual Practices for Everyday Life. He is a leader in the emergent church movement and a renowned expert on postmodern theology and the American church landscape.
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That may be so, ChrisM (although I would disagree with you on its lack of Biblical support), but this post is about the pragmatics of the doctrine of hell, not its truth or falsity.
Larry, two things:
1. The current discussion on the pragmatics of hell naturally leads to questioning the truth or falsity of the doctrine itself. If the doctrine inherently causes despair, and the argument that is being posited is because of such depair generation that the doctrine is "nasty," then isn't the logical solution to disgard it because of it's hardship?
2. If sins' destructiveness is reversible (remember Jesus' teaching about the yeast of the Pharisees? Yeast cannot be removed after it has been applied... hence corruption in the hamartiological sense is irreversible) and hell does not exist as a final containing of sin's corrupting power, then there is nothing to redeem or to help in redeeming. Universalism is by definition a universal application of whatever soteriological milieu you subscribe to. Either nothing needed redemption or redemption is complete already. There is no "redeeming" work to cooperate with. You need another word.
A little off subject but I am interested...
I think I agree with what MMA is saying in the quote but would like some clarification since I have not read the essay: I wonder if someone could give me a working definition for what MMA calls "religiously serious people." I think understanding who MMA determines to be RSP would help me get over my initial gut revulsion and help prevent future eye-rolling. As a gradable adjective "many" (as in "many religiously serious people...") is hard to swallow without knowing who RSP are.
And first I walked to the gates of Hell to see if fear would stay my walk. And longing allowed me to have my corruption harmlessly burn away. Next I came to Heaven's gate to see if joy and beauty would distract me from my walk. Again longing allowed me to set aside lesser desires to pass by their entrancing loveliness, and to continue to walk to my Beloved's countenance. When finally I stood eye to eye with my Beloved, there was nothing to say, no word or form to speak, but perfect being only.
The idea that hell restrains bad behavior is hardly convincing considering that Radical Islamists, who believe in eternal conscious torment, kill infidels in the name of their god. Roman Catholics, in the past, killed Jews and Protestants, while believing in the Augustinian hell. Many Protestant groups (that followed Luther and Calvin) were known for executing those with whom they disagreed on subjects like the trinity, and these groups believed in hell.
Universalism, ancient biblical universalism, as taught by Orthodox scholars, and many Baptists of the 19th century, inspired men and women to reach out to others in charity; free them from slavery; minister to their physical, as well as emotional and spiritual, needs. Biblical universalism has inspired lives filled with peace and love, not just towards one's friends, but one's enemies as well. It was this love for one's enemies that reflected the nature of the Father - for He loved His enemies and gave His Son for those very enemies. This is a belief that Christians should not be ashamed of; we have a history of charitable and evangelistic works.
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