medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
I would imagine there are at least two strong reasons for it:
1) Ancient fire-worshipping cultures: I stress that this is hypothesis...
Fire-worshipping mythology (eg. famously the case of Prometheus) comes most
strongly from regions in the Caucuses and modern northern Iran, where
natural gas and oil ignites spontaneously on bubbling from rock fissures.
The ancient Judaic peoples, being contact with the empires haling from these
regions would be familiar with them to an extent. Being gentiles, their
religious practices would be regarded as contrary to God's will, and the
manifest power of fire would cause one to think that their religion invoked
the a supernatural power contrary to God. Ergo, hell is place of fire and
brimstone.
2) Places such as the phlegrian fields near Naples were regarded as the
gateways to the underworld by some ancient writers, where smoke issues from
the earth. Volcanoes would also be known as causes of great destruction and
death, and would therefore reasonably be thought to be evil.
Best wishes.
Rob Howe.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul F. Schaffner" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, September 11, 2003 2:30 PM
Subject: Re: [M-R] Fire & Brimstone
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
> > Can someone tell me where the notion of a fire and brimstone hell came
> > from? Thanks. yrs, tom ault
>
> Perhaps you're looking for a more historically nuanced answer, but
> surely the most immediate source would be the Bible, especially,
> assuming that one identifies the ordained destination of the devil
> and the wicked dead with 'hell', John's Revelation:
>
> Apoc. 20 (AV). The deuil that deceiued them, was cast into the
> lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false
> prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night, for euer and euer.
> And I saw a great white throne, and him that sate on it, from
> whose face the earth and the heauen fled away, and there was
> found no place for them.
> And I sawe the dead, small and great, stand before God: and
> the books were opened: & another booke was opened, which is the
> booke of life: and the dead were iudged out of those things
> which were written in the books, according to their works.
> And the sea gaue vp the dead which were in it: and death and
> hell deliuered vp the dead which were in them: and they were iudged
> euery man according to their works. And death and hell were cast
> into the lake of fire: this is the second death.
> And whosoeuer was not found written in the booke of life, was cast into
> the lake of fire.
>
> Apoc. 21 (Rheims). To the feareful, and incredulous, and execrable,
> and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and Idolaters, and al
> liers, their part shal be in the poole burning vvith fire and brimstone,
> vvhich is the second death.
>
> --which passages themselves doubtless depend both on earlier Jewish
> apocalyptic and on OT events and passages, eg. the destruction
> of the Cities of the Plain in Genesis and more general
> passages like this:
>
> Ps. 11 (AV) The Lord trieth the righteous: but the wicked and
> him that loueth violence, his soule hateth. Upon the wicked
> hee shall raine snares, fire and brimstone.
>
> As for more distant and remote sources (or for sources that
> mediated the apocalyptic vision to medieval Europe), others can
> say.
>
> pfs
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> Paul Schaffner | [log in to unmask] | http://www-personal.umich.edu/~pfs/
> 316 Hatcher Library N, Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor MI 48109-1205
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
>
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