Hell : a practical theological enquiry
The starting point of this inquiry is the experience of hell-believing Christians whose deceased loved-one might be heading for torment. A methodology of inquiry combining Groome's model of shared praxis and the cultural-linguistic perspective of Lindbeck is developed. A quantitative survey of Scottish clergy establishes the extent of exclusionary eschatology and its tendency to not feature in its proponent's own pastoral praxis. The doctrine is set within a contemporary cultural context. Symbolic interactionism provides a vehicle for interpreting how the doctrine can operate by dehumanising 'the lost'. Bauman's framework of mortality survival strategies is adapted to interrogate further how the hell-believing Christian community copes with the horrific dimensions of its beliefs with special exemptions for loved-ones. By exploring the experience of inhabiting the texts of exclusion the biblical material is found to serve as a means of community differentiation alongside its traditional use as explanations of destinations beyond death for either the saved or the lost. A postliberal theology of hell is proposed in which the language of eschatological exclusion serves as a Christian way of saying 'No'. The pastoral
Stoddart, Eric
Hell
Hell : a practical theological enquiry. The starting point of this inquiry is the experience of hell-believing Christians whose deceased loved-one might be heading for torment. A methodology of inquiry combining Groome's model of shared praxis and the cultural-linguistic perspective of Lindbeck is developed. A quantitative survey of Scottish clergy establishes the extent of exclusionary eschatology and its tendency to not feature in its proponent's own pastoral praxis. The doctrine is set within a contemporary cultural context. Symbolic interactionism provides a vehicle for interpreting how the doctrine can operate by dehumanising 'the lost'. Bauman's framework of mortality survival strategies is adapted to interrogate further how the hell-believing Christian community copes with the horrific dimensions of its beliefs with special exemptions for loved-ones. By exploring the experience of inhabiting the texts of exclusion the biblical material is found to serve as a means of community differentiation alongside its traditional use as explanations of destinations beyond death for either the saved or the lost. A postliberal theology of hell is proposed in which the language of eschatological exclusion serves as a Christian way of saying 'No'. The pastoral
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