On Hell: A Helpful Bibliography by Peter Lumpkins

   James Davidson Hunter noted in his 1987 landmark study, Evangelicalism: The Coming Generation (University of Chicago,1987, 38), "…it is clear that there is a measurable degree of uneasiness within this generation of Evangelicals with the notion of an eternal damnation” while Richard Bauckham had already lamented a decade before--since 1800 “no traditional Christian doctrine has been so widely abandoned as that of eternal punishment” (Universalism: A Historical Survey,” Themelios 4 (1979) 48).

Indeed Bauckham quotes H.R. Macintosh from 1914>>>

 “If at this moment a frank and confidential plebiscite of the English-speaking ministry were taken, the likelihood is that a considerable majority would adhere to universalism. They may no doubt shrink from it as a dogma but would cherish it privately at least as a hope” (footnote 3, p.48).

In light of this, it confuses me why evangelicals are presently scrambling over questions being raised about the eternality of Hell among their ranks as if a new threat to evangelicalism has suddenly appeared on the scene. The evangelical feeding frenzy concerning Rob Bell is a case in point (here, here, and here).   The truth is, historically evangelicals have entertained and, sad to say, tolerated loosey-goosey views on eternal punishment, and no amount of mouth-dropping, eye-popping, oh-my-gosh-we've-got-to-save-the-day reaction is going to change the historical record.

On the other hand, I am even more confused that some Southern Baptist theologians have also expressed shock that questions are presently more openly expressed concerning Hell and dazedly wondering what the evangelical world is coming to. Really?

Truth be told, one should wonder if this is not a time for Southern Baptists to rejoice! Not because our Christian cousins--the evangelicals—are scrambling to keep the ecumenical Titanic afloat. We hurt for them. Rather rejoice because, as Southern Baptists, we simply have no monkey in that cage.  We have not now nor in our history a “crisis” on Hell’s eternality. And, even if we did, any biblical forfeitures in compromising the eternal horrors those who die without Christ face were swiftly swept aside as a result, in large part, of the Conservative Resurgence (CR). The CR was not an infallible theological fix to be sure. Nonetheless, the CR has proved to possess some pretty sticky glue.

Even so, below is a partial but helpful bibliography on Hell.  It includes some resources from my library but mostly is dependent upon a selected bibliography by Dr. Richard Mayhue, Executive Vice President Dean & Professor of Theology, The Master’s Seminary, (Hell: Never, Forever, Or Just For Awhile?, TMSJ 09:2 Fall 1998):

BOOKS

Philip C. Almond, Heaven and Hell in Enlightenment England  (Cambridge University, 1994).
Robert Anderson, Human Destiny: After Death—What?  (Pickering and Inglis, 1913).
John Armstrong, ed., The Coming Evangelical Crisis  (Moody, 1996).
B. F. C. Atkinson, Life and Immortality  (published privately, n.d.).
Samuele Bacchiocchi, Immortality or Resurrection  (Berrien Springs, Mich.: Biblical Perspective, 1998).
William Barclay, A Spiritual Autobiography  (Eerdmans, 1975).
Harry Blamires, Knowing the Truth about Heaven and Hell  (Servant Books, 1988).
John Blanchard, Whatever Happened to Hell?  (Evangelical, 1993).
Loraine Boettner, Immortality  (Presbyterian and Reformed, 1956).
Gregory A. Boyd, God at War: The Bible and Spiritual Conflict  (InterVarsity, 1997).
Jon E. Braun, Whatever Happened to Hell?  (Thomas Nelson, 1979).

Harry Buis, The Doctrine of Eternal Punishment  (Presbyterian and Reformed, 1957).
Jonathan M. Butler, Softly and Tenderly Jesus Is Calling: Heaven and Hell in American Revivalism, 1870
–1920 (Carlson, 1991).
Nigel M. de S. Cameron, ed., Universalism and the Doctrine of Hell  (Baker, 1992).
D. A. Carson, The Gagging of God  (Zondervan, 1996).
J. Cooper, Body, Soul and the Life Everlasting  (Eerdmans, 1989).
William Crockett, gen. ed., Four Views on Hell  (Zondervan, 1996).

William Crockett & James Sigountos, eds., Through No Fault of Their Own?  (Baker, 1991).
Thomas Davis, Endless Sufferings: Not the Doctrine of Scripture  (Longmans, 1867).
Larry Dixon, The Other Side of the Good News  (Victor, 1992).
David L. Edwards and John R. W. Stott, Evangelical Essentials  (InterVarsity, 1988).
Millard Erickson, The Evangelical Left  (Baker, 1997).
F. W. Farrar, Eternal Hope  (MacMillan, 1879).
Ajith Fernando, Crucial Questions about Hell  (Kingsway, 1991).
LeRoy E. Froom, The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers , 2 vols. (Review & Herald, 1965).
Edward William Fudge, The Fire that Consumes (Providential, 1982).
Daniel P. Fuller, The Unity of the Bible: Unfolding God’s Plan For Humanity  (Zondervan, 1992).
John Gerstner, Jonathan Edwards on Heaven and Hell  (Baker, 1980).
_____, Repent or Perish  (Soli Deo Gloria, 1990).
Michael Green, Evangelism Through the Local Church  (Hodder & Stoughton, 1990).
H. E. Guillebard, The Righteous Judge (published privately, n.d.).
Fritz Guy, “The Universality of God’s Love,” in The Grace of God, the Will of Man , ed. by Clark Pinnock (Bethany, 1989) 31-49.
Murray J. Harris, Raised Immortal  (Eerdmans, 1983).
Paul Helm, The Last Things: Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell  (Banner of Truth, 1989).
William Hendriksen, The Bible on the Life Hereafter  (Baker, 1963).
John Hick, Death and Eternal Life  (Collins, 1976).
_____, Evil and the God of Love  (MacMillan, 1966).
Anthony Hoekema, The Bible and the Future (Eerdmans, 1979).
Matthew Horberry, An Inquiry into the Scripture Doctrine of Future Punishment , (Clarendon, 1828
Herman Hoyt, The End Times (Moody, 1969).
Philip E. Hughes, The True Image (Eerdmans, 1989).
Erwin Lutzer, Coming to Grips with Hell  (Moody, 1990).
Dale Moody, The Word of Truth  (Eerdmans, 1981).
Robert Morey, Death and the Afterlife (Bethany, 1984).

Leon Morris, The Biblical Doctrine of Judgement  (Tyndale, 1970).
J. A. Motyer, After Death: A Sure and Certain Hope , rev. ed. (Christian Focus, 1996).
W. O. E. Oesterley, Immortality and the Unseen World  (MacMillan, 1921).
D. Pawson, The Road to Hell  (Hodder & Stoughton, 1992).
Robert A. Peterson, Hell on Trial  (Presbyterian and Reformed, 1995).
A. W. Pink, Eternal Punishment  (Reiner, n.d.).
Clark Pinnock, et al ., Theological Crossfire  (Zondervan, 1990).
_____, Tracking the Maze (Harper & Row, 1990).
_____, A Wideness in God’s Mercy  (Zondervan, 1992).
_____, et al ., The Openness of God  (InterVarsity, 1994).

_____, et al ., Unbounded Love (InterVarsity, 1994).
John Piper, Let the Nations Be Glad! The Supremacy of God in Missions  (Baker, 1993).
E. B. Pusey, What is of Faith as to Everlasting Punishment?  (Oxford, 1880).
S. F. D. Salmond, The Christian Doctrine of Immortality , 2nd ed. (T. & T. Clark, 1903).
W. G. T. Shedd, The Doctrine of Endless Punishment  (1980 reprint, Klock & Klock, n.d.).
Harold P. Simonson, Jonathan Edwards: Theologian of the Heart  (Eerdmans, 1974).
R. V. G. Tasker, The Biblical Doctrine of the Wrath of God  (Tyndale, 1951).
Peter Toon, Heaven and Hell  (Nelson, 1986).
Stephen Travis, The Jesus Hope (InterVarsity, 1974).
_____, I Believe in the Second Coming of Jesus  (Hodder & Stoughton, 1982).
D. P. Walker, The Decline of Hell: Seventeenth-Century Discussions of Eternal Torment  (University of
Chicago, 1964).
Benjamin B. Warfield, Studies In Theology  (Baker, n.d.).
John Wenham, The Goodness of God  (InterVarsity, 1974).
_____, Facing Hell: The Story of a Nobody  (Paternoster, 1998).

 

ARTICLES

Gerald Bray, “Hell: Eternal Punishment or Total Annihilation?” Evangel  10 (Summer 1992):19-24.
Robert Brow, “Evangelical Megashift,” Christianity Today  34 (February 19, 1990):12-14.
Frank Burch Brown, “The Beauty of Hell: Anselm on God’s Eternal Design,” Journal of Religion  73
(1993):329-56.
Harold O. J. Brown, “Will the Lost Suffer Forever?” Criswell Theological Review  4 (1990):261-78.
Simon Chan, “The Logic of Hell: A Response to Annihilationism,” Evangelical Review of Theology  18
(1994):20-32.
William V. Crockett, “Wrath that Endures Forever,” JETS 34 (1991):195-202.

Tim Crosby, “Is the Hell of the Bible Unending?” Ministry  (July 1987):10-13.
Bruce W. Davidson, “Reasonable Damnation: How Jonathan Edwards Argued for the Rationality of Hell,”
JETS 38 (March 1995):47-56.
Howard Davies, “Judgement: The Doctrine Lost to the Modern Pulpit,” Banner of Truth Magazine  364
(January 1994):13-18.
Millard J. Erickson, “Is Hell Forever?” BibSac 152 (July-September 1995):259-72.
Edward Fudge, “Putting Hell in Its Place,” Christianity Today  20 (August 6, 1976):14-17.
_____, “The Final End of the Wicked,” JETS 27 (1984):325-34.
Alan W. Gomes, “Evangelicals and the Annihilation of Hell,” Part 1, Christian Research Journal  13 (Spring
1991):14-19.
_____, “Evangelicals and the Annihilation of Hell,” Part 2, Christian Research Journal  14 (Summer 1991):9-
13.
Tony Gray, “Destroyed Forever: An Examination of the Debates Concerning Annihilation and Conditional
Immortality,” Themelios 21 (1996):14-18.
Vernon C. Grounds, “The Final State of the Wicked,” JETS 24 (September 1981):211-20.

“Hell’s Sober Comeback,” USN & WR (March 25, 1991):56-64.
Philip Edgcumbe Hughes, “Conditional Immortality,” Evangel  10 (Summer 1992):10-12.
Alan M. Linfield, “Sheep and Goats: Current Evangelical Thought on the Nature of Hell and the Scope of
Salvation,” Vox Evangelica 24 (1994):63-75.
Martin E. Marty, “Hell Disappeared. No One Noticed. A Civic Argument,” Harvard Theological Review  78
(1985):381-98.
Frank Matera, “Acts 10:34–43, ” Interpretation (January 1987):62-66.
Leon Morris, “The Dreadful Harvest,” Christianity Today  35 (May 27, 1991):34-38.
Roger Nicole, “The Punishment of the Wicked,” Christianity Today  11 (June 9, 1958):13-15.
_____, “Annihilationism,” Tabletalk  14:7 (July 1990):9-10.
James I. Packer, “The Problem of Eternal Punishment,” Evangel  10 (Summer 1992):13-19.
Robert A. Peterson, “A Traditionalist Response to John Stott’s Arguments for Annihilationism,” JETS 37
(1994):553-68.
Clark H. Pinnock, “Fire, Then Nothing,” Christianity Today  31 (March 20, 1987):40-41.
_____, “The Destruction of the Finally Impenitent,” Criswell Theological Review  4/2 (1990):243-59.
_____, “The Arminian Option,” Christianity Today  34 (Feb. 19, 1990):15.
_____, “Toward an Evangelical Theology of Religions,” JETS 33 (September 1990):359-68.
Charles L. Quarles, “The of 2 Thessalonians 1:9 and the Nature of Eternal Punishment,” WTJ  59
(1997):201-11.
Robert L. Reymond, “Dr. John Stott on Hell,” Presbyterion XVI (Spring 1990):41-59.

R. C. Sproul, “The Limits of God’s Grace: Jonathan Edwards on Hell,” Tabletalk  14 (July 1990):4-5.
John R. Stott, “John Stott on Hell,” World Christian (May 1989):31-37.
_____, “The Logic of Hell: A Brief Rejoinder,” Evangelical Review of Theology  18 (1994):33-34.
Thomas Talbot, “The Doctrine of Everlasting Punishment,” Faith and Philosophy  7 (January 1990):19-42.
Jerry L. Walls, “Can We Be Good Without Hell?” Christianity Today  41 (June 16, 1997):22-27.
David F. Wells, “Everlasting Punishment,” Christianity Today  31 (March 20, 1987):41-42.

 

I trust this is helpful for future, deeper study.

With that, I am…

Peter

Comments

[Tim Rogers]

Brother Peter,

Great resources. Here are links to the Gomes articles you have listed. They are great reads.

http://www.bible-researcher.com/hell4.html

http://www.bible-researcher.com/hell5.html

Blessings,
Tim

[peter lumpkins]

Thanks Tim. Great links!

With that, I am...
Peter

[The Seeking Disciple]

Thanks for the books and articles on hell. How the Church needs to know what she truly believes about his and not listen to the likes of Rob Bell and then buy into what he says simply because it appeals to our flesh.

[peter lumpkins]

SD

Thanks. While I remain unsure exactly what Bell's book explains Hell is, if the past things I've learned of Bell are indicators, I'm all but sure I will have major disagreements as will most conservative Christians.

Grace, bro.

With that, I am...
Peter

[Chris]

For a more recent treatment, consider Morgan, Christopher W., and Robert A. Peterson, eds. Hell Under Fire, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2004. This collection has chapters by R. Albert Mohler, Daniel Block, Doug Moo, J.I. Packer, and Sinclair Ferguson to name a few controbutors.