A Theodicy of Hell
In A Theodicy of Hell Charles Seymour tackles one of the most difficult problems facing the western theistic tradition: to show the consonance between eternal punishment and the goodness of God. Medieval theology attempted to resolve the dilemma by arguin
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STUDIES IN PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION Volume 20
The titles published in this series are listed at the end of this volume.
A THEODICY OF HELL
by
CHARLES SEYMOUR
SPRINGER-SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, B.V.
A C.I.P. Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-90-481-5478-4 ISBN 978-94-017-0604-9 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-94-017-0604-9
Printed on acid-free paper
All Rights Reserved © 2000 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 2000 No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner.
To my parents
Love seeketh not Itself to please Nor for itself hath any care; But for another gives its ease, And builds a Heaven in Hells despair. --William Blake
Acknowledgements
From the moment I began this project I have received the help of many generous people. I submitted the earliest version of this manuscript as my Ph.D. thesis at the University of Notre Dame. My heartfelt thanks goes out to my dissertation advisor, Philip Quinn--flrst for taking me on as an advisee, and then for his efforts in critiquing my work. Hearing complaints from graduate student colleagues about their advisors made me feel all the more fortunate for mine; Quinn's prompt and thorough critique of drafts improved the final product greatly, and I am grateful to him for making the writing of the dissertation the best part of my graduate school career. Another kind soul at Notre Dame was Thomas Flint, who served on the dissertation committee and commented on drafts of all the chapters. His expertise in modal logic and the metaphysics of freedom was particularly helpful; lunches spent discussing counterfactuals saved me from more than one mistake. The process of revision did not end once the dissertation was bound and put on the shelves. Referees both known and unknown to me read articles based on various chapters and took the time to offer detailed criticism. Let me mention by name Thomas Talbott, who demonstrated an admirable charity in giving encouraging and copious comments on work so opposed to his own. I would also like to thank anonymous referees for Faith and Philosophy and Kluwer Academic Publishers. Working with the staff of Kluwer has been a pleasant experience. I thank Willem van Dijk for first taking an interest in my work. It was his initiative which prompted me to submit the manuscript. His successor, Maja de Keijzer, has proved equally helpful in guiding me through the long process of preparing the manuscript for publication. Finally, I would like to thank my parents for the various kinds of support they have provided me, and continue to provide, as I strive to find a niche in academe. To them I dedicate the book.
V111
Portions of Chapter 5 appeared as "On Choosing Hell" in Religious Studies, Vol. 33, No. 3 (Septembe
