Her Gates Will Never Be Shut: Hope, Hell, and the New Jerusalem
Ebook
Overview
Everlasting hell and divine judgment, a lake of fire and brimstone--these mainstays of evangelical tradition have come under fire once again in recent decades. Would the God of love revealed by Jesus really consign the vast majority of humankind to a destiny of eternal, conscious torment? Is divine mercy bound by the demands of justice? How can anyone presume to know who is saved from the flames and who is not? Reacting to presumptions in like manner, others write off the fiery images of final judgment altogether. If there is a God who loves us, then surely all are welcome into the heavenly kingdom, regardless of their beliefs or behaviors in this life. Yet, given the sheer volume of threat rhetoric in the Scriptures and the wickedness manifest in human history, the pop-universalism of our day sounds more like denial than hope. Mercy triumphs over judgment; it does not skirt it. Her Gates Will Never Be Shut endeavors to reconsider what the Bible and the Church have actually said about hell and hope, noting a breadth of real possibilities that undermines every presumption. The polyphony of perspectives on hell and hope offered by the prophets, apostles, and Jesus humble our obsessive need to harmonize every text into a neat theological system. But they open the door to the eternal hope found in Revelation 21-22: the City whose gates will never be shut; where the Spirit and Bride perpetually invite the thirsty who are outside the city to "Come, drink of the waters of life."
Top Highlights
“We ought to also note the irony and incongruence of the Church utilizing the very place where God became violently offended by the literal burning of children as our primary metaphor for a final and eternal burning of God’s wayward people in literal flames. Thus, God becomes the very Molech who decrees that the angels must deliver his children to the flames, even though this was the very reason he ordered Hinnom to be desecrated in the first place!” (source)
“The stubborn fact is that Scripture is richly polyphonic on the topic of hell and judgment—as if by design.” (source)
“reduced to ashes (Mal 4:3); while the very wicked are punished in Gehenna for ‘ages” (source)
“We’re burning already, but we don’t have to be! Redemption! The life and death of Christ showed us how far God would go to extend forgiveness and invitation. His resurrection marked the death of death and the evacuation of Hades.” (source)
“They maintained the possibility (not the presumption) of some version of judgment and hell and the twin possibility (not presumption) that at the end of the day, no one need suffer it forever.” (source)
”Who are the damned? Who are the saved? The questions have a way
of provoking controversy, often quite heated. Brad Jersak,
self-identified as an evangelical who accepts the Biblical witness
as authoritative, turns the controversy into a conversation, a
quiet conversation. He listens. He listens to opposing voices. He
listens to Scripture as God’s last word on the subject. He listens
to the scholars and theologians. Out of the listening something
like a ‘humility of hope’ (Jersak’s phrase) begins to replace
dogmatisms and we find ourselves part of a conversation with
Christian brothers and sisters who are seriously praying for the
world’s salvation."
--Eugene H. Peterson
author of Tell It Slant: A Conversation on the Language of Jesus
in His Stories and Prayers
“Deeply grounded in evangelical faith and committed to evangelical
categories of theological interpretation, Jersak probes the meaning
of ‘Final Judgment’ in Christian faith and tradition. The phrase,
for Jersak, must be kept in quote marks, because he sees that what
is ‘final’ is not ‘judgment’ but the openness of God. The book
traces the way in which Christians, and the author, ‘exchange
certainty for hope.’ In the end the residue of evil will not have
the last word; what prevails is the goodness of God’s love. Readers
will be greatly instructed by this thoughtful book."
--Walter Brueggemann
author of Divine Presence Amid Violence (Cascade,
2009)
“Combining theological rigor and pastoral sensitivity Her Gates
Will Never Be Shut is sure to push the boundaries of the
contemporary theological landscape and expand the theological
horizons of scholars, pastors, and lay Christians alike. Grounded,
timely, and open--this is evangelical theology at its best."
--Jon Stanley
co-editor of ”God is Dead" and I Don’t Feel so Good Myself:
Theological Engagements with the New Atheism (Cascade,
2009)
Product Details
- Title : Her Gates Will Never Be Shut: Hope, Hell, and the New Jerusalem
- Authors:
- Jersak, Brad
- Ansell, Nik
- Publisher: Wipf and Stock
- Publication Date: 2010
- ISBN: 9781630871284