26
been guilty. These writings include the Apocalypse of Peter, Acts of Thomas, and Apocalypse of
Paul. Exhortations to witness and to evangelize appeared in both non-Tour and Tour portions of
the New Testament Apocrypha.
Many medieval Tours of Hell displayed the influence of the Apocalypse of Paul. The
most significant and famous of these was Dantes Inferno which has been immensely influential
in forging popular concepts of Hell from then until noweven though Dante never intended for
his poetic imagery to be understood in physical terms.
Since their energies were largely concentrated upon soteriological issues, the Protestant
Reformers had little to say about Hell. They evidently continued to teach Augustinian
traditionalism.
Miltons Paradise Lost, although poetry, was (like Dantes Inferno) influential in
molding popular concepts of Hell from then until now, even though it also pictured Satan as the
ruler of Hellcontrary to Scripture. Traditionalist Richard Baxter emphasized Hellfire preaching
to bring the lost to salvation.
The most important and influential traditionalist of this period was Jonathan Edwards. He
used vivid Hellfire imagery (like Dantes) to scare people into realizing their danger and turning
to Jesus Christ to be saved. He combined his Hellfire preaching with powerful evangelistic
appeals.
During the nineteenth century Finney and Spurgeon used Tour of Hell imagery to increase
the vividness of their verbal portraits of Hell.
The twentieth century saw a revival of the Tour of Hell genre in the stirring work of Mary
K. Baxter.
We have discussed numerous details in the images of Hell recorded in the Tours of Hell
that are imaginative and speculative, going beyond the picture given in Scripture and, on
occasion, conflicting with it. These images do not convey Biblical truth. Nevertheless, their
emphasis upon the everlasting permanence is true in accurately reflecting Biblical teaching.
ENDNOTES
1. The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, edited by James H. Charlesworth (2 vols. New
York: Doubleday, 1983, 1985), I, 25, 27. Different scholars wrote introductions to and translated
the various Pseudepigraphal writings. In referring to their work, I shall name the scholar,
followed by the volume and page numbers of this work which I shall designate as OTP.
2. OTP, I, 514-515. These tours are described sometimes as of Hades and other times as
of Gehenna (Hell).
3. OTP, I, 909. In his Introduction, W.F. Stinespring considered this work to have
originally been a product of Egyptian Judaism, though containing some later Coptic Christian
interpolations. He dated it in the second century A.D. (OTP, I, 904).
4. OTP, I, 515.
5. OTP, II, 347. In his Introduction, D. J. Harrington described Pseudo Philo as a
Palestinian Jewish work produced in the first century A.D., probably about the time of Jesus (II,
299-300).
6. OTP, I, 890-891. In his Introduction E.P. Sanders described the Testament of Abraham