Hell and its Afterlife

Historical and Contemporary Perspectives
1. Auflage 2010
ISBN: 978-0-7546-6729-2
Verlag: Routledge

Buch, Englisch, 282 Seiten, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 240 mm, Gewicht: 593 g

The notion of an infernal place of punishment for 'undesired' elements in human culture and human nature has a long history both as religious idea and as cultural metaphor. This book brings together a wide array of scholars who examine hell as an idea within the Christian tradition and its 'afterlife' in historical and contemporary imagination. Leading scholars grapple with the construction and meaning of hell in the past and investigate its modern utility as a means to describe what is perceived as horrific or undesirable in modern culture. While the idea of an infernal region of punishment was largely developed in the context of early Jewish and Christian religious culture, it remains a central belief for some Christians in the modern world. Hell's reception (its 'afterlife') in the modern world has extended hell's meaning beyond the religious realm; hell has become a pervasive image and metaphor in political rhetoric, in popular culture, and in the media. Bringing together scholars from a variety of fields to contribute to a wider understanding of this fascinating and important cultural idea, this book will appeal to readers from historical, religious, literary and cultural perspectives.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Toscano, Margaret

Moreira, Isabel

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Christentum/Christliche Theologie Allgemein

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction: Holding Ajar the Gates of Hell, Isabel Moreira, Margaret Toscano; Part I The Tradition of Hell in the Old World; Chapter 1 Love is Hell: Torment, Sex, and Redemption in the Cupid and Psyche Myth, Margaret Toscano; Chapter 2 Early Visions of Hell as a Place of Education and Conversion, Jeffrey A. Trumbower; Chapter 3 Plucking Sinners Out of Hell: Saint Martin of Tours’ Resurrection Miracle, Isabel Moreira; Chapter 4 Named Others and Named Places: Stigmatization in the Early Medieval Afterlife, Alan E. Bernstein; Chapter 5 A Franciscan Kind of Hell, Megan C. Armstrong; Chapter 6 1The editors would like to thank The Journal of Ecclesiastical History for permission to publish this chapter which was extended for the journal under the title “The Reformation of Hell? Protestant and Catholic Infernalisms in England, c.1560–1640,” The Journal of Ecclesiastical History, Volume 61, Issue 02, April 2010, pp. 279–98 by Peter Marshall., Peter Marshall; Part II The Reception of Hell in Modern Times and Contemporary Dialogue; Chapter 7 Devils Conquering and Conquered: Changing Visions of Hell in Spanish America, Fernando Cervantes; Chapter 8 Hell with Purgatory and Two Limbos: The Geography and Theology of the Underworld, Henry Ansgar Kelly; Chapter 9 Hell Yes! Hell No! Evangelical Debates on Eternal Punishment, John Sanders; Chapter 10 Turning the Devils Out of Doors: Mormonism and the Concept of Hell, Brian D. Birch; Chapter 11 James Joyce and the (Modernist) Hellmouth, Vincent J. Cheng; Chapter 12 Sin City: Urban Damnation in Dante, Blake, T.S. Eliot, and James Thomson, Disa Gambera; Chapter 13 1I would like to thank the other Part Icipants in the “Hell and Its Afterlife” conference for their comments on the original oral version of this paper, Part Icularly Walid Saleh, Jennifer Fraser, Rachel Falconer, and Alan Bernstein, and, from the University of Nebraska, Kim Vorthmann., Charles W. King; Chapter 14 Guardian Demons in Hellboy: Hybridity in Contemporary America

Über Autor(innen)

Isabel Moreira is Professor of History at the University of Utah. She has a PhD in Ancient History from the University of St. Andrews, Scotland. She specializes in the history and religion of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Her publications include, Dreams, Visions, and Spiritual Authority in Merovingian Gaul (2000), and Heaven's Purge: Purgatory in Late Antiquity (2010). Margaret Toscano is Assistant Professor of Classics and Comparative Literature at the University of Utah, where she also received her PhD in Comparative Literature. She specializes in religion, gender, and myth. She also publishes on Mormon theology. She is currently writing a book entitled Making Love with God in the Medieval World: Sex and Identity in Mechthild of Magdeburg and Margery Kempe. In 2007 she published chapters in Rome, Season One: History Makes Television and in Discourses in Mormon Theology: Philosophical and Theological Possibilities.