Comment on How modern is it to have "sympathetic" portrayals of Hell?

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Fondots@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

Historically hell has often been depicted as a rather cold place, away from the warmth of god’s love or what have you.

Anecdotally, 20 or so years ago, that’s what I remember being taught in CCD class when my parents were still making me go.

Dante’s Inferno (c. 1321) for example, depicts the 9th and deepest circle of hell as a large frozen lake. And many of the damned he encountered throughout the different circles are at least somewhat sympathetic, especially at the first level of where the inhabitants are by and large good people who just to not be Christians. (And to be clear, Dante often found himself at odds with the church, so his works don’t necessarily reflect official doctrine and were absolutely written to reflect his own agenda, that said a lot of our modern ideas about hell owe a lot to Dante’s depiction, and any actual mention of hell in the Bible is scarce to non-existent depending on how you interpret certain passages, so his version is just as valid as any other in my opinion)

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