Orthodox theological reflections on hell?

[vonRatzinger]

I recently read St. Robert Bellarmine’s “Hell and It’s Torments”, and I was enthralled with it. It got me thinking about just how little I know about the orthodox catholic teaching on Hell and the fate of the damned. Does anyone know of any good, orthodox theological reflections that have been written regarding the Church’s teaching on this subject? I know the Catechism is a good resource, but I’m looking for other options to supplement it with.

On a side note, the Bellarmine sermon I mentioned is available from TAN on Amazon for only $2 (ISBN: 0-89555-409-7), and I highly recommend it if you’re ever looking for something cheap to get your order to that magic $25 free shipping total.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Malcolm_McLean]

I recently read St. Robert Bellarmine’s “Hell and It’s Torments”, and I was enthralled with it. It got me thinking about just how little I know about the orthodox catholic teaching on Hell and the fate of the damned. Does anyone know of any good, orthodox theological reflections that have been written regarding the Church’s teaching on this subject? I know the Catechism is a good resource, but I’m looking for other options to supplement it with.

There was a fashion in the nineteenth century for “hellfire” sermons. They were gradually abandoned as a bad idea.

CS Lewis, in Narnia, has it right. Susan is simply not there when the children gather to meet Aslan in the New Narnia. There is a bit of an attack on her boyfriends and lipstick by the others, but Aslan says nothing.

 

[vonRatzinger]

CS Lewis, in Narnia, has it right. Susan is simply not there when the children gather to meet Aslan in the New Narnia. There is a bit of an attack on her boyfriends and lipstick by the others, but Aslan says nothing.

Am I correct to say that the position of Lewis you’ve advanced above is that the blessed will not care about the state of the damned? Is there a particular catholic theological work that you could point me to for validation?

There was a fashion in the nineteenth century for “hellfire” sermons. They were gradually abandoned as a bad idea.

I’ve heard that sermons on hell were given more in the past than they are now (the Bellarmine one I mentioned is from 1574). I’m hoping to find the resources they studied that influenced what they had to say. I’m fairly new to the Church, and this is the first subject that I’ve had some difficulty determining who is “the guy” to read to get the orthodox teaching on something.