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Sistine Chapel Conversation About Hell
- Wright recounts sitting in the Sistine Chapel with a Greek Orthodox Archimandrite who accepted biblical images but didn't recognize the medieval picture of Christ sending some people down and others up.
- The story illustrates how medieval western eschatology diverges from Eastern Christian thinking and the NT.
Medieval Hell Is Not The New Testament Picture
- The Western medieval image of hell (fires, punishments) largely comes from nonbiblical sources like Dante and Platonic thought, not the New Testament.
- NT focuses on new creation and a final summing up of heaven and earth, so hell should not be imagined as an equal opposite destination to heaven.
Hell As Denial And Loss Of Image Bearing
- Hell can be understood as 'denial' or 'nothingness' where a person has turned away from reflecting God and so progressively loses genuine human image-bearing.
- Wright uses C.S. Lewis' The Great Divorce and Narnia examples to show loss as becoming less human rather than eternal torment imagery.