Beauty, Justice, and Damnation in Thomas Aquinas

Abstract

Whether one inclines to fire or ice as the most prominent feature of the infernal landscape, there can be no doubt that the "dark doctrine" is currently hot. 1 Although for some time the Christian teaching on hell merited the sobriquet of the "dormant doctrine," the last quartercentury has seen it roused by defenders and dissenters. 2 For those who endorse the possibility of hell (even while hoping for its emptiness), the outright rejection or quiet neglect of the doctrine is not a suitable state of affairs. 3 C. S. Lewis observes: "There is no doctrine which I would more willingly remove from Christianity than hell if it lay in my power. But it has the full support of Scripture and, especially, of our Lord's own words; it has always been held by Christendom; and it has the support of reason." 4 Recent arguments for the theological necessity and logical coherency of eternal punishment have been mounted by Jerry Walls, 5