Edward William FudgeBesprekingen

Looks at all the references in the Bible about hell, final end for the lost, etc. and ends up promoting annihilation.

In this book, Fudge espouses annihilationism. He does not believe that hell is the eternal torment of people who do not place their faith in Christ. Instead, those people cease to exist.

A short-hand explanation of the author's research and conclusions regarding hell, marketed as a companion to a movie coming out in the near future.

The author stops at nothing to prejudice the reader toward himself and his views with no end of rhetoric which would be intolerable in a truly academic setting. He expects the reader to agree with him, seeks to first prejudice the reader toward him, presents the evidence as he wishes, minimizes the evidence which is inconvenient for his position, and then expects the reader to make their decision purely on the basis of what he has written. Throughout he speaks uncharitably toward those who do not accept his position.

It would seem that the position the author advances is worthy of consideration and more robust analysis, and the author has presented two other books referred to in this book (which I have not personally read) which, I hope, provide that more thorough analysis.

Therefore, it is hard to really see this book as anything but a way to capitalize on the interest generated by the movie and to gain adherents for a position using less-than-honest methods in the name of "simplicity" and a resistance toward critical thinking or examination of the other side. It is hard to read this book and not think of the proverb, "the one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him" (Proverbs 18:17).

If you're interested in a more simplistic and highly prejudiced defense of conditional annihilationism, this book is for you. If you're looking for a well-reasoned analysis which takes detractions seriously, it won't be found here. One has to wonder why the author seems so concerned with critical thinking regarding his position and feels compelled to argue the case like a defense lawyer.

While some have criticized "Hell: A Final Word" for being too shallow or fast to make conclusions, this book is in essence a summary or follow up to his much larger book, "The Fire That Consumes." His original book is the more thought out, all encompassing volume. This smaller version gives a quick, still detailed overview of his argument that Scripturally, Hell is a place of final destruction for the wicked (known traditionally as annihilationism). Fudge compares this view with the orthodox view of eternal suffering and misery instead. I imagine that Fudge would be quite happy with the result of my reading: while not completely converted to the idea of annihilationism, I am passionate about researching the topic more thoroughly. While the traditional view is more readily accepted and taught, there are serious issues with its Scriptural basis in both Old and New Testament. I found Fudge's book to be a well written, humble, and Bible centered book that focused more on finding the real truth of God rather than proving himself to be right. Definitely a must read for Christians trying to understand their faith or for non-Christians who oppose the traditional view of hell.

'Hell A Final Word' is the story about how Edward Fudge came to write his earlier book 'The Fire That Consumes' which inspired the movie "Hell and Mr. Fudge."(2012) Fudge promotes the idea that Hell is not a place of eternal punishment, but rather where the bodies and souls of the unsaved are completely destroyed in the 'Second Death'.

On the plus side Fudge does present a biography of himself and what motivated him to do the research on the subject of Hell. He clearly states his position and presents to the reader a logical argument based on Scripture. The book is easy to read and well organized. And there is a quiz at the end.

On the negative side, the book is basically an advertisement to see the movie that is about to be released. In addition to the many references to the movie in the book, the picture on the back cover is of the actors who are portraying Mr and Mrs Fudge in the film. Also if the reader wants a in depth study on this concept of Hell they would be better off getting the original book as this book only provides a quick summery.

This book lacks the depth that is really needed when challenging 1000+ years of Christian thought on hell. This book suffers most from catering too much to shallow thought, many of the chapters should have been combined as they were all parts of one particular theme. Too much time is spent on the author's journey to his conclusions, especially because they really didn't focus on his wrestling with the issues, just the life events surrounding it. While the assertion that we must believe what the Bible says, not our feelings, is correct, this assertion came at the end of chapters in which the readers emotions were riled to feel like the concept of eternal punishment couldn't be right, couldn't be in the character of God so many times that it felt like an afterthought.

Key parts of the argument seem to center around redefining eternal to final/total or to saying that worms die/fires go out after the wicked are utterly consumed, ideas that seem to run contrary to plain reading unless one already assumes annihilation. A major thrust is to argue that apollymi, often translated perish or destruction, means total annihilation when used of the wickeds' final state. In chapter 24 are listed several appearances of the word in the NT to try to convince the reader of this "literal" meaning. A huge problem with that is that the word is translated many times as simply "lose" (several times in the parables in Luke 15). Also, it is used at least three times of believers, most notably in 1 Cor. 15:18, "Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished." Certainly this cannot mean dead believers have been annihilated.

A huge question never addressed in this book is, if man can-in any way, by any means, over any length of time (After some period of suffering (another thing very underdeveloped)?)-satisfy the wrath of God against them , why did Christ have to come die? This idea sounds very much like purgatory without the happy ending and that question should have been addressed.

The book read well, was interesting, but didn't do justice to the topic. Serious lay readers deserve better. There are a few errors of passage citations, normally the verse referenced can be found in the same chapter.

The author is a committed evangelical scholar who, through his investigation of divinely inspired scripture, has come to the conclusion that there is no evidence for the popular image of Hell as a place where the soul is tormented for eternity. In this, his third book on the subject, he carefully lays out the evidence from both the Old and New Testaments for Hell as the final and irreversible destruction of the soul of the wicked. He carefully defines terms, explaining the common usage of the times of the Greek words that have been used to support current conceptions of Hell. He deconstructs the "4 pillars" that support Hell as eternal torment, showing how they do not hold up, and finally concludes that the primary reason for that view is the introduction of Platonism by Tertullian, with its concept of an eternal, indestructible soul, a view that is not supported in scripture. In scripture, the immortality of the soul is a gift that is granted at the final Judgment to the just.

This book is very clear, using short, precise chapters to make the author's points with summaries of the evidence supporting them. Only one chapter doesn't seem to work. Although Chapter 46 presents Tertullian and his views, it also gives very brief summaries of a number of other early Church theologians such as Origen, Augustine and Anselm. As these were widely differing, what we get is a potpourri of very surface characterizations which do not contribute to the overall point.

Clearly Fudge's work is within the worldview of Scripture as divinely ordained and inerrant. Yet within that, he just as clearly seeks to place writings and words within appropriate context and to recognize scholarship about probably authors of various books; he comes across as a highly trained and intelligent scholar.½

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