Holy Hell: A Case Against Eternal Damnation, KerekKubilus, Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 2024 (ISBN 9780802883179), 200 pp., Pb $24.99

In this book, Derek Kubilus has courageously taken on an issue that has been avoided by pastors and teachers who teach and preach the love of God, down through the history of Christianity. That is the issue of Hell and eternal damnation. Kubilus is clearly a proclaimed universalist—that is, he believes that all people are saved and will be welcomed into heaven for eternity. But, also being an ordained Methodist, he has had to find a way around the thorny issue of how to receive the biblical texts that speak about the suffering and burning in hellfire and for eternity. This tension, Kubilus points out, is incongruous with the overall powerful message of God's love for all people, and he believes many Christians worry and suffer throughout their lives about their possible fate and the fate of those they love. Even if they do make it into heaven, how can they be rejoicing there while people they care for are experiencing endless pain with absolutely no hope of relief? He goes on to explain how this doctrine of eternal punishment came about and was maintained by the Church over the ages. In chapter one, Haunted by Hell, he points out that, as a working pastor, he has learned that most people's concerns are related to their lives on this side of the grave, although some are concerned with fears of Hell. It is for these that he has written this book. He goes on to point out that Hell cannot be a place of endless torment, or else God would not be God and the atoning work of Christ a cruel joke. In chapter two, he points out that 82% of evangelical Christians believe in a Hell of eternal punishment, yet if this were so, they would not be able to sit back and live their lives as they do now. He also speaks about hope, noting that we have no concept of what it would be to live without hope. God would not keep us alive if there were no hope for an end to our suffering. And, he adds, there is no purpose for God to punish us forever. In chapter three, Kubilus mentions that Hell is not found anywhere at all in the Bible. Hell, in the Bible, is always the result of a bad translation. This word derives from several different Hebrew and Greek words and varying ideas. None of them has to do with eternal torment. Also, it is important that these words be read in context. In the fourth chapter, Kubilus tells how, when he was a child, his own mother held above his head the threat of receiving painful strokes from the paddle which hung on the wall. He learned as the years passed that this paddle served only as a threat and was likely never intended to be used! This threat he compares to that of eternal damnation that Christianity too often wields. Chapter five is entitled Breaking out of Baby Jail. Kubilus tells about a youth detention facility and the importance of God's being with us when we suffer and the ways God is taking us out of such suffering. The Apostle's Creed tells us that Jesus Christ ‘descended to the dead’ and we are imagining his preaching to and rescuing those who had died but were not yet in heaven. Chapter six speaks about what he calls the bureaucracy of the afterlife; comparing the difference between the way church matters evolve and the generous teachings and healings on the part of Jesus. Chapter seven addresses the Bible story from Matthew about the sheep and the goats. He sees the punishment for sin not as permanent but rather as a pruning, for the purpose of our growth, so that God's great work in us may be complete. Chapter eight discusses the issue of what Catholics call Purgatory and Protestants may see as a time of purification; a time to cleanse the soul and make us ready and fit for the presence of God. Purgatory, as the Roman Catholics understand it, is described as what Hell is according to the understanding of Kubilus. This is spoken of in scripture as a temporary refining fire—not a way out but a way through. In the ninth chapter, the Circles We Draw, Kubilus considers the smaller and larger circles in which we live and identify ourselves and reminds the reader that God's love encircles all the world and redeems all living things. Chapter ten notes that many evangelical Christians blame others for rejecting God as part of their human freewill and say they are going to Hell because of their decision. This, Kubilus notes, gives them a way not to blame God! Chapter eleven, the final chapter, is rightly entitled A Generous Heresy. If believing that God is generous enough not to make any of God's beloved children burn in Hell for eternity, that cannot be anything but good news. If, from this book, Kubilus can put many troubled hearts at peace, then he will have done a very good thing. This book is well worth reading and should bring good news to many.