Lectures / 14/02/2009 7:30 pm

Salon der schlauen Füchse

Any reason why we should be afraid of Hell?

Is there such a thing as Hell? What does it look like? Who ends up in Hell, who goes to Heaven? Michael Hoelzl’s lecture shows how greatly representations of Hell vary from religion to religion and over centuries. Islam and Judaism for instance have vastly different conceptions of Hell. What is particularly striking in this context is the fact that ideas about Hell are always much more graphic than those about Heaven. Why is that so?