The Problem of Hell

Join Jacobs Premium: https://www.thenathanjacobspodcast.co... The book club (use code LEWIS): https://www.thenathanjacobspodcast.co... This week Dr. Jacobs tackles the Eastern Orthodox perspectives on hell, divine providence, and human nature at Northern Arizona University. This conversation explores how Eastern patristic theology differs from Western Christianity on topics including original sin, the fall of man, Christ's descent into Hades, and the possibility of universal salvation. Jacobs traces his journey from philosophical opposition to Christianity through his discovery of the Church Fathers, addressing common objections to Christian theology based on moral intuitions and examining whether eternal damnation contradicts God's goodness. We also have a little tag on Mormonism and the Great Apostasy at the end. All the links: Substack: https://nathanajacobs.substack.com/ Instagram:   / thenathanjacobspodcast   Website: https://www.nathanajacobs.com/ X: https://x.com/NathanJacobsPod Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0hSskUt... Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Facebook:   / nathanandrewjacobs   Academia: https://vanderbilt.academia.edu/Natha... 00:00:00 Intro 00:02:07 Background on Dr. Jacobs 00:14:56 The standard Western view of hell 00:18:33 The Eastern patristic perspective 00:32:19 God’s providence and goodness 00:40:06 Death & Hades in Eastern thought 00:49:19 Death as both enemy and mercy 00:53:50 Genesis & the fall 01:13:06 Universal salvation & God’s will 01:35:03 Steel-manning nominalism 01:38:53 Christ not knowing the day or hour 01:46:03 Mormonism & the Great Apostasy Other words for the algorithm… Eastern Orthodox, Eastern Orthodoxy, hell, doctrine of hell, universal salvation, apokatastasis, Gregory of Nyssa, Basil of Caesarea, Maximus the Confessor, church fathers, patristics, patristic theology, Cappadocian fathers, Hades, harrowing of Hades, descent into Hades, problem of evil, problem of hell, divine providence, theodicy, original sin, fall of man, image of God, imago dei, theological anthropology, free will, realism, nominalism, penal substitution, atonement theology, soteriology, theosis, deification, incarnation, resurrection, final judgment, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Western Christianity, systematic theology, philosophy of religion, Neoplatonism, Plato, Aristotle, Immanuel Kant, metaphysics, nature and grace, Athanasius, religious nones, apologetics, David Bentley Hart, moral theology, divine goodness, retributive justice, Christus Victor, universalism, annihilationism, eternal conscious torment, Trinitarian theology, Nicene Creed, eschatology, Irenaeus, doctrine of double effect, Romans 7, biblical interpretation, conversion story, atheism, classical theism, C.S. Lewis, George MacDonald, scholasticism, medieval philosophy, Platonism, hylomorphism, angels, demons, spiritual warfare, gospel, dogma, heresy, orthodoxy, apostolic tradition