Book Review: Hell the Logic of Damnation by Jerry L. Walls

Title: Hell: The Logic of Damnation
Author: Jerry L. Walls
Pages: 159
Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press: (Notre Dame, Indiana 1992)

Review:

I had the good fortune to be at Asbury Theological Seminary and take several classes from Jerry Walls. In the class titled: The Problem of Evil this was one of the textbooks, so I got to participate in its dissection with the author present. I probably would have enjoyed it more but it was this particular semester that my father had died so I was going through my own problem of evil issues. In any case though, Jerry Walls is a smart, logical and entertaining professor. He is also a helluva (pun intended) good author as well.

This book deals with a central problem in Christianity as regards the problem of evil - the doctrine of hell. Hell: The Logic of Damnation is a work of philosophical theology. Its aim is to take the traditional doctrine of hell and question it from every angle to see if it holds up to logic. Hell is considered in the light human belief; God's knowledge, power and goodness and human freedom and misery.

Walls does a very good job attacking the doctrine and shows how the traditional doctrine of hell suffers from many philosophical weakness. He also draws a conclusion that many would find unacceptable but is in some ways inescapable if you accept his argument.

The style of the book is scholarly and not for the average reader. It assumes that you understand philosophical and theological terms and concepts. It is also heavy reading for 159 pages as Jerry Walls is a deep thinker. Still the content is very good and follows a solid logical argument with the only challenge being accepting the conclusion.

When I first read this book many years ago I disagreed with its conclusion and still do, but what it did cause me to do was rethink my whole understanding of hell and damnation. The final result of these thoughts is found in my series Is Hell Justified? This book in many ways became my introduction to both philosophical theology and new theological understandings of hell and deserves praise on both counts.

Rating: Four stars. The only thing that would make it better is if it was more readable to the general public. Maybe a second book doing just that would be helpful.