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Jonathan Edwards and hellWhy believe in eternal punishment?JONATHAN EDWARDS AND HELL The doctrine of hell continues to be a matter of debate among Bible believers. In recent years the traditional teaching of the endless, conscious punishment of sinners has been under attack. In its place, various forms of annihilationism have been proposed. This book looks at reasoning given by Edward Fudge, Michael Green, Philip Hughes, Clark Pinnock, John Stott and Stephen Travis for their assertions (tentative or otherwise) of the final annihilation of the unrepentant. The author, Professor of Theology at California Baptist University, in response, opens up the great arguments deployed by the 18th-century American theologian Jonathan Edwards, who defended the traditional view of hell with immense logic and insight. While acknowledging that a number of contemporary theologians, including J.I. Packer and Don Carson have given strident answers to the idea of annihilation, he contends that no one has surpassed the clarity and effectiveness of Edwards in this matter. He charges that, 'the annihilationists' misunderstandings of certain aspects of the doctrines of God and of sin have shaped most of their arguments'. This is a very helpful and timely book. When the church is caught up in a desire to ever shape God in terms which are conducive to the misguided thinking of a proud, self-absorbed world we are on a slippery slope. Edwards helps us to see man's sin and God's glory not from man's point of view but from God's. Morgan's book is succinct and reads rather like a PhD or Master's thesis, but the copious footnotes are very valuable. JEBJohn Benton© Evangelicals Now - July 2004 |