Concept and Location

Early modern ideas of Christian Hell mostly align with common depictions today. A bottomless pit of darkness, hellfire that produces heat but no light, sounds of screaming, and the torture of the damned by demons were all present. The Book of Revelations 20:10 describes Hell as a lake of fire, as in this passage from the 1599 Geneva Bible: And the devil that deceived them, was cast into a lake of fire and brimstone, where that beast and that false prophet are, and shall be tormented even day and night for evermore.

The traditional location of Hell is inside the earth, although debates around this conception occurred. In Christopher Marlowe’s 1594 play , the demon Mephistophilis is summoned and questioned about where Hell is by the title character: Faustus: Tell me, where is that place that men call hell? Mephistophilis: Under the heavens. Faustus: Ay, but whereabouts? Mephistophilis: Within the bowels of these elements, Where we are tortured and remain forever. Hell hath no limits, nor is circumscribed In one self place, for where we are is hell, And where hell is there must we ever be. And, to be short, when all the world dissolves, And every creature shall be purified, All places shall be hell that is not heaven. Faustus: I think hell’s a fable. Mephistophilis: Aye, think so still, till experience change thy mind. (2.1.117–28) As this passage explains, the demon answers that Hell is within the Earth but at the same time present everywhere except Heaven.

Types of Torture

Early modern preachers divided the torments of Hell into two separate categories: poena sensus and poena damni. Poena sensus was the physical pain inflicted on the senses of the body, from hellfire specifically, although it was preached that all senses would be sources of pain in Hell. These types of torture featured strongly in artistic representations of Hell throughout the medieval and early modern periods. Poena damni was the spiritual pain of being forever separated from God. Paintings of the Last Judgement by prominent European artists like Michaelangelo reflect both these types of pain.

While depictions of the glories of Heaven, both in speech and art, tended to be vague, depictions of the sufferings of Hell were detailed and varied. English painter David Teniers painted in about 1647, for example. Early modern people throughout Europe were familiar with suffering from pain, disease, and famine, and therefore had much inspiration to draw on when imagining Hell. Frescoes and paintings of Hell adorned many church walls to vividly illustrate the punishments the damned might expect.

A depiction of hell, including sinners being drowned in mud, staked through the heart, slashed at with swords, dragged across the ground, and hanged. An angel dressed in white gestures outward toward the area while holding a person by the wrist. Their grasp prevents the person from flinching backward. The white of their clothing is a small spot among the browns, oranges, and reds of the rest of the painting. , an oil painting by a follower of Hieronymus Bosch, about 1516. Courtesy of Wellcome Collection. CC BY-NC 4.0.

Different Levels of Hell

The idea of degrees of suffering in Hell comes from the theologian Augustine, who insisted that unbaptized babies would suffer in Hell but endure only the mildest kind of pain. This idea of gradations of suffering seems to be popular since it found its way into Italian poet Dante Alighieri’s famous 13th century epic poem, , which portrays Hell as having nine distinct circles in a descending spiral ending with Satan frozen in ice at the very bottom. Other depictions of the biblical underworld feature different gradations than Dante’s or sometimes none at all.

Debates

Despite the existence of a few anonymous attacks on the concept of Hell in the 1600s, it was not until the 1740s as English thinkers integrated concepts of Enlightenment that it was openly criticized by some intellectuals. But for most of the early modern period, it was dangerous to challenge such a central principle of Christianity.

The existence of Hell is heavily supported by Christian scripture, especially the gospels of the New Testament. Because of this, criticizing the doctrine or discussing some of the many moral questions about the concept was dangerous to both reputation and livelihood. It was difficult to question Hell without also questioning the rest of the doctrine present in the Bible.

Many learned people considered Hell a necessary deterrent for immoral behavior that was better to be left unquestioned so that less learned people had reason to remain moral. It was a common belief among all social classes that there was a correlation between atheism and immorality. Anyone questioning the scriptures was suspect of being an atheist and therefore a threat to society.

When questions about the nature of Hell were eventually published, their concerns varied widely. Such questions included Is Hell truly eternal? Are the sinners in Hell punished for the sins committed in the afterlife? Do the blessed in Heaven take satisfaction in seeing sinners suffer? Due to social attitudes regarding sin and damnation as key components of Christian belief, for most of the early modern period, these questions remained unasked.

Key Print Sources Almond, Philip C. . Cambridge University Press, 1994. Steggle, Mathew. . 7.1 (May 2001): 1–17. Rasmussen, Tarald. . 56.⅔ (2009): 366–384.

Key Online Sources Amoako, Aida. . . 29 Oct. 2020. https://artuk.org/discover/stories/the-bad-place-a-visual-history-of-hell. Best, Michael. . . . University of Victoria, 14 Jan. 2011. https://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/ideas/the%20universe/hellmouth.html. Buetter, Nils. . . Ed. Amy Baker Sandback. AXA Gallery, 2005. . https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/artdok/1161/1/Nils_Buettner_Where_is_Paradise_2005.pdf. Campbell, Gordon. . . Ed. Gordon Campbell. Oxford University Press, 2005. . https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780198601753.001.0001/acref-9780198601753-e-1808?rskey=17jtHu&result=1791.

Image Sources Follower of Bosch, Hieronymus. . Circa 1516. Oil on Canvas. Wellcome Collection. Reference: 44837i. https://wellcomecollection.org/works/dum4xgme/images?id=e5pwks23.