Exploring Evangelical Conditionalism (Annihilationism)
In 2016 and 2017 we took our Rethinking Hell Conferences across the Atlantic to London and across the Pacific to Auckland, respectively. But in 2018, we’re returning to the U.S. to hold our fifth annual Rethinking Hell Conference in the Dallas–Fort Worth area. We’ll be at The Heights Baptist Church in Richardson, Texas on Friday and Saturday, March 9–10, 2018.
Continue reading “2018 Conference Announcement: March 9–10, Dallas–Fort Worth”
After the first two Rethinking Hell conferences drew speakers and guests from around the world to Houston in 2014 and Pasadena in 2015, we are excited to take our conference to the world! Announcing the third annual Rethinking Hell Conference, taking place at Highgate International Church in Highgate, London on October 7-8, 2016. Our theme this year will be “Conditional Immortality: Past, Present, Future.”
Continue reading “2016 Rethinking Hell Conference Announcement”
After a successful and inspiring first conference in Houston last summer, we are looking forward to the prospect of more conferences both in the US and abroad! We are pleased to now announce the second Rethinking Hell Conference, which will take place at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California from June 18-20, 2015.
Our theme this year will be “Conditional Immortality and the Challenge of Universal Salvation.”
In selecting this theme, Rethinking Hell is promoting dialogue among evangelicals, by bringing our own view of conditional immortality (also called annihilationism), into conversation with universalism. Universalists believe that hell is a place of purification, out of which God will eventually redeem all who are sent there. This view has gained some popular momentum within evangelical communities since the publication of Rob Bell’s best-selling book Love Wins.
As well as the engagement of these two views, our conference will also facilitate a “trialogue” with representatives of the widely-held traditional view of eternal torment.
Continue reading “2015 Rethinking Hell Conference Announcement”
Back in 2011, when Rethinking Hell was just a verb, our own Chris Date, on his Theopologetics podcast, conducted a respectful but very hard-hitting interview with Dr. Larry Dixon on the subject of hell. Dr. Dixon is professor of systematic theology at Columbia International University, and the author of The Other Side of the Good News.
My own editorial comments: It was a pretty huge deal! Dr. Dixon and his written defense of traditionalism are well-respected and oft-quoted in the debate on hell, and Chris while irenic and fair proved to be quite a challenge to Dr. Dixon’s arguments for the traditional doctrine. Not bad for someone who was still early in the process of rethinking hell at the time! I recommend that traditionalists and conditionalists alike listen to the interview, and we would love to know what you think of this exchange.
“Episode 62: The Other Side,” Theopologetics [podcast], hosted by Chris Date, October 20, 2011, http://www.theopologetics.com/2011/10/20/episode-62-the-other-side/ (accessed May 27, 2013).
“Episode 63: Lake of Fire,” Theopologetics [podcast], hosted by Chris Date, October 21, 2011, http://www.theopologetics.com/2011/10/21/episode-63-lake-of-fire/ (accessed May 27, 2013).