Razing Hell: Rethinking Everything You've Been Taught about God's Wrath and Judgment

I consider myself a tormented agnostic with Christian leanings. While I am troubled by the notion of inerrant scripture as analyzed by Bart Ehrman (Jesus, Interrupted) the Old Testament tribal God chronicled by Dan Barker (God: The Most Unpleasant Character in All Fiction), and the notion of eternal damnation discussed by too many to list, I have at the same time been influenced by Christ’s life as chronicled in the New Testament, and how Christianity explains the human condition by the French philosopher and Christian apologist Blaise Pascal. Pascal’s apologetics have been brilliantly written about in orthodox Catholic Peter Kreeft’s Christianity for Modern Pagans and evangelical Christian Thomas V. Morris’ Making Sense of It All.

So I come to Baker’s Razing Hell wanting to be transformed and be “like Christ” but not wanting the baggage of eternal hell. In other words, I am, in the spirit of full disclosure, a biased reader, rooting for Baker to be right, and that can be problematic. But nevertheless I will try my best to review her points and see how convincing they are.

Sharon Baker, a theology professor, takes the role of Virgil in Dante’s Purgatorio, helping three students, Eric, Brooke, and Lisa, who are struggling with the doctrine of eternal hell. One has an unsaved grandmother who is dying and she is tormented that her grandmother will suffer in eternal flames.

Through a series of conversations with her students, some at a sushi bar, Baker explains to them, and us the readers, how the hell doctrine creates inconsistencies with God’s love. Baker asks, “Are we stuck with it?” And if we make hell temporal, a place of purification like purgatory, are we “selling out to a feel-good theology?”

Her goal in this book is to convince us that eternal hell does not fit with Gods’ love and forgiveness while at the same time argue that without hell we can still worship a God who demands justice.

While I wanted to believe her and while I sympathized with her objectives, I found that some of her points needed more support so that after reading this book I did not have some teary-eyed epiphany and grand assurance about living in a universe where eternal hell does not exist. Nevertheless, she makes some compelling points.

One compelling point is that when we believe in a Hell God, we take on his wrathful personality. We may be called to love, but we also share God’s Jungian Shadow for anger and judgment.

Another compelling point is that a loving God makes us repent more than the Hell Monster. In what is my favorite passage in Baker’s book, “Forgiveness doesn’t come after repentance; it leads to repentance.” God is so loving, Baker argues, that our hearts melt from his unconditional love and his reaching out to us. In contrast, the Hell God loses our trust and causes our hearts to harden because the Hell God, who will eternally torture about 666 billion people in Baker’s estimation, is a debased God unworthy of our worship.

This is a huge contrast from orthodox Christian writer Thor Ramsey who in his book The Most Encouraging Book on Hell Ever argues that eternal hell honors and glorifies God. Without eternal hell, Ramsey argues, God is a lame Santa Claus figure with no authority.

She creates a hypothetical figure, an evil doer named Otto who enters the fire as an unrepentant sinner after he dies and in the fire he experiences the purity of God’s love and agonizes over his life of sin until his heart melts and he can enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

I found a lot of Baker’s reinterpretations of hell fire to be creative and more the result of wishful thinking than rigorous argument. Additionally, her study of the words for eternal, “olam” and “aion,” needed more development because orthodox writer Ramsey in the aforementioned book discussed eternal in the New Testament with a convincing sense that it means forever and ever.

To Baker’s defense, however, Dale Allison, a very rigorous Christian scholar, does elaborate on the word eternal in the Bible as meaning an indefinite period of time and not forever and ever in fifth chapter of his book Night Comes.

Another point that needed more development is Baker’s argument that the Cross is not a tit for tat sacrifice in which an angry God demands a “pound of flesh” for a pound of sin but a metaphor for our purification.

Baker selects passages from Proverbs and Isaiah which show a God who no longer wants our sacrifices; instead he wants our pure hearts and holy lives. The Cross in other words is about our purification, not our need for a blood sacrifice. This seemed like a very selective interpretation.

I’d like to see Baker revisit the notion of eternity and the meaning of the Cross, but all in all I sympathize with Baker and her three students. Many of us, including Dale Allison, try as much as we can to follow step with the orthodox doctrine of eternal hell but such a doctrine drives us into a deep depression. Even pious believers who embrace orthodoxy, such as the 15th Century Japanese converts described in Francis Xavier’s letters grieved with tears after realizing their lost family members were being tortured in hell for all eternity. As Dale Allison writes, “The good news Francis proclaimed was mixed with some awfully bad news.”

I agree with Sharon Baker that this bad news does not glorify God, as Thor Ramsey proclaims. But I think she should expand some of her chapters to make some of her arguments more airtight. Still, I find Baker a sympathetic narrator and a good writer, and I recommend her book in what is one of life’s biggest debates.

I've read the reviews that give this book only one star. It's too bad that those who feel compelled to publish a review slam a book and its author (!) merely because they disagree with it. Although many readers most likely do not agree with everything Razing Hell suggests, they hopefully have enough intellectual integrity, personal honesty, and theological acuity to recognize a good argument when they see one. In this book Sharon Baker tackles the biblical passages dealing with hell, eternity, wrath, judgment, and love with scholarly and knowledgeable hermeneutical good sense. In fact, one of the things I like most about this book is Baker's insistence on interpreting God's Word skillfully, taking into serious consideration the Greek and Hebrew, the historical and literary contexts, and the attempt to seek the meaning of the text according to what the people of that time and place might have heard and understood. If more pastors would employ such honest and informed methodological skills for their own hermeneutics, pulpits across the world might actually have more success winning souls to Christ. In fact, if pastors and parishioners took to heart the compassion and love of God as seen through the lens this book espouses, there would be fewer mean spirited, judgmental Christians in the world (including the "pastor" from Northville!).

If one reads Razing Hell carefully and with any shred of theological knowledge, it is obvious that Baker DOES hold to a sacrificial view of Jesus' death on the cross (while at the same time effectively critiquing penal and satisfaction models of atonement). In fact, the suggestion that God gives a post-mortem second chance to those who did not receive Christ as savior during their short temporal lives, actually broadens the grace of God and the unlimited effectiveness of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross by extending divine grace into the eternal realm of life. If Baker is right, and I hope she is, God's grace and compassion are even more extravagant and overflowing than I ever imagined. She drives home the point that, indeed, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess Jesus Christ as Lord to the glory of God the father. By the way, that's in the Bible, a book Baker obviously pays rigorous attention to and holds as completely authoritative.

I would feel completely confident sending my child to be taught theology and religion from a Christian professor like Baker. Messiah College should count itself blessed to have her on their faculty. I hope she writes another book that's just as accessible, honest, provocative, and liberating as this one. I highly and enthusiastically recommend this book. Read it; you are in for a real blessing. If I could give it 10 stars, I would!

Dr. Baker's book, "Razing Hell," ultimately presents the gospel or good news about God that too many miss: God is not like what many ancient and modern people have made him out to be; he is truly what Jesus revealed in his life and what Paul, prophets, and others reiterated throughout the books of the Bible. Is it not the kindness of God that brings about our change of heart and mind? It appears tremendously difficult for today's readers to see any God in the Bible that is not two-faced or with a split personality, bringing about repentance by threat. There's a pervasive "yes-but" picture of God that creates so many pictures of a hell. "Yes, God is right-doing, merciful and loving, BUT his justice demands that he torture any who reject his Son's offer of forgiveness." And worse, instead of applying the "eye for an eye," or "punishment fits the crime" retributive type justice that Western law tends to emulate, God is presented as giving eternal torture for people who may have never heard of his Son, Jesus, or whose only crime is being born a sinner. Taking from her biblical scholarship and presenting hope in a clear language for the everyday reader, Dr. Baker spells out from both from the Old and New Testaments the truth about God well contrasted from the human characteristics that are often attributed to him. And she raises Jesus as the definitive lens through which to see God's very nature in any part of the Bible. And on the way, she responds to the many questions about God and cherished Biblical doctrines of God and hell that stir doubt about God's character and Kingdom (or way of governing) that offer a reconciling, restorative justice for all. The reader is encouraged with extraordinary evidence that God is always just like Jesus who desires restored relationship, and is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. And that is good news indeed! Since Christian history has often misrepresented God, "Razing Hell" is highly recommended for Christians, atheists, agnostics, and people of any religious faith!

A refreshing look at this topic. I wonder how well her arguments would stand up against peer review, however she makes some good points and arguments.

I have employed Razing Hell for two adult studies in Presbyterian congregations. Each of them ran about 4 weeks in length. The participants in the class came from a range of theological perspectives but all of them chose to participate based on their personal struggles with what the Bible says and how their hearts feel about hell. Many in the classes had important individuals in their lives who had a fundamental belief in hell as acquired through scripture and other literary sources such as Dante. In both gatherings, participants were challenged to be in conversation with those important individuals and even to engage theological debate on hell with the help of the book. Class participants reported that they felt better equipped to offer biblical substantiation in such debate with the help of Baker's book. Additionally, they appreciated Baker's attention to the Patristic's development of the concept of hell. All in all, Baker attends comprehensively and creatively through the student dialectic. In the dialectic the reader has the opportunity to raise their own questions as they Raze Hell. The result is a renewed ability to think critically about the concept. Most importantly,readers will find themselves equipped to cite biblical texts which is important for a sense of faithfulness and when in conversation with the conservative Christian community. I will use the book again and appreciate the work that Baker has done to provide the Christian community a bridge built between polarities that need each other.

I really wanted to like this book. I am a pastor and about to preach this Sunday on "Lazarus and the Rich Man." I am essentially a universalist (for a quality book on this topic, check out If Grace Is True: Why God Will Save Every Person (Plus)). So I was looking for a book that would help give me a better understanding of hell, and hopefully the ability to deconstruct the common view of eternal damnation. This book didn't help at all.

Baker starts out the book quoting from Lazarus and the Rich man about the "great chasm" that separates them, and she says that we must take the scriptures seriously when analyzing what hell really is - sounds good. However, she only mentions Lazarus and the Rich Man once in the rest of the book, in a list of scriptures that describe hell. She never makes any attempt to explain what this "great chasm" is, or to study the rest of the scriptures in this list. The only scripture about hell she actually deconstructs in any sense is the parable of the sheep and the goats, and the only thing I learned from the whole book about hell is that in the phrase "eternal punishment" used in the parable of the sheep and the goats, the word "eternal" actually means an age, a time period, and not forever.

She spends the rest of the book talking about three of her students and their questions about hell, and the ideas and opinions (with little specific biblical reference) that they share with one another. I thought about giving the book two or three stars because it does a decent job of explaining some concepts, such as the problems with all the violence perpetuated by God in the Old Testament, the contrast between a wrathful and forgiving God, and between retributive and restorative justice. But that's really just for beginners; if you've already thought about these things a decent amount, there won't be much for you here. Furthermore, my main problem is that however good of an argument she might present that God is not wrathful, there still looms large the biblical passages on hell, which she lists and otherwise largely avoids - as though she started out wanting to truly "raze hell" and then the book got too long, she didn't know what to say about the scriptures and how to fit them into her theology, so she just gave up.

Finally, after spending over a hundred pages explaining how God is loving and not wrathful, and that the God of Jesus Christ would never do anything so horrible as to send people to eternal punishment, she finally, in two pages, and with little scriptural justification, does an about-face and explains why she is not a universalist. She believes that God gave us free will and won't take that away from us, so after death he puts us through a purifying fire, and after that, if we still don't repent and accept grace, we are incinerated in the lake of fire. So let me summarize:

-Wrathful, condemning God: sinners go to eternal punishment after death.

-Loving, forgiving, merciful God: sinners get one more chance after death, and then they're incinerated.

A shepherd who hunts for each lost sheep until he finds it? According to Sharon Baker, that's taking God's love a little too far.

Ms.Sharon Baker,has written a classic here. Her incredible work should be taught and studied in every church, bible study group and with all Christians. She has done a masterful job of weaving a clear delineation between that of a Retributive and a Restorative God. One (the former) is seen through the eyes of the World and the other through the eyes of Jesus. As for HELL and eternal suffering, fictional portrayal of Otto, is simply priceless. Ms. Baker has put on paper,the words of my heart, better than I could of imagined. The book was worth it just for those few words.

This book will make an excellent study tool. It asks all the questions that need answers and she provides them. God's Love is seen and felt through this entire book. If you never read another book again. READ THIS ONE!

If you have been questioning the idea of "eternal conscious torment" in hell expressed in the Statements of Faith adopted by most Evangelical churches, then this book should definitely be on your reading list. Ms. Baker approaches universal reconciliation in a way that the other books I've read do not. You will find it hard to defend the current majority opinion after reading this.

Every Christian should also read Hope Beyond Hell by Gerry Beauchemin. Besides presenting overwhelming Scriptural evidence to support universal reconciliation, this book will make you fall ever more deeply in love with the creator who loves all His children with an unimaginable passion.

IMHO, the best defense of universal reconciliation of all is found in The Inescapable Love of God by Thomas Talbot. The closely reasoned logic is almost as inescapable as the Love Talbot attributes to God.

There are many other good books on this subject, but if you start with these you will find something for every reader. You will find yourself dropping to your knees in wondrous adoration of the breadth and depth and height of God's love for us.

Baker presents a compelling alternative to an angry God sending innocent yet ‘unbelieving’ people to an eternal place of torment. Her arguments, although somewhat circular at times, were convincing and grounded in biblical foundations.

Sharon Baker takes you on a journey, the book is very insightfull. See deals with questions of the heart that come up intuitively, not only with then rational side of things. One of the best books on hell out these, especially for those who don't want to dive into the details, but still want thorough study

This author has opted for personal sentiments rather the hard truth. The idea that a second chance awaits her grandfather shows the degree to which she is willing to reinterpret the scriptures to suite her own feelings. Like many others, she has been prepared in the midst of the church (1 John 4) by the spirit of the Antichrist to usher souls into eternal damnation. We do not need to make apologies for the God who overwhelmed the world with a flood and will destroy the present one with fire (2 Peter 3). This same God also created eternal torment for the devil and his angels (Matthew 24:41-46). Indeed, he is the God who loves us but he also commands men everywhere to repent of their sins (Acts 17:30-31). If you die in your sins then judgment awaits. How God will ultimately determine the outcome for every individual that remains his secret but for those who have been exposed to the the gospel and refused to turn from a life of rebellion there is no escape. So the idea that eternal punishment does not actually meant that is beyond human sensibilities. No where does the Bible teach that the fires of Gehenna is some kind of purgatory. If according to this author that is the case has she see it then it is also plausible to believe that the devil and his angels will also be freed eventually. This book should not be sold in the market place because it is false and it will cause many to rest comfortable with their sins believing if they die in their sins there is a second chance.

Readable because it omits the technical phraseology, but refers and explains that at the end of the book. This is an extremely important and accessible work that all those who are seriously seeking God for answers on issues like justice in the midst of our complex and violent world. Sharon you did a wonderful job and I gladly refer this book to any of my students as a 'must read'!

it tells you that if, you think that God is a vengeful GOD you are most likely to want vengeance in this world to, and see bad people condemned, but if you see God as a God of love, you will not seek retributive justice in this world, you will look for other ways of justice being served in a healthy and loving view. very good read.