The Bad Place

<p>Lots of religions embrace the idea of hell – a place of eternal punishment for wrong doers. But where did that idea come from? How has it changed through time? And how does a belief in it (or not) affect us while we’re alive? </p><p>We’ll talk with Bart Ehrman about the history of beliefs in hell from ancient Mesopotamia through modern Christianity. And with Shadi Hamid about why he thinks it can be a good thing for people to believe in hell, and how that belief shapes our political and social lives.  </p><p><br /></p><p>Bart Ehrman is the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the author of <a href="https://www.bartehrman.com/heaven-and-hell/"><strong>Heaven and Hell: A History of the Afterlife</strong></a> and <a href="https://www.bartehrman.com/journeys-to-heaven-and-hell/"><strong>Journeys to Heaven and Hell: Tours of the Afterlife in the Early Christian Tradition</strong></a>. Find out more about Bart’s work, including his many other writings about the New Testament and early Christianity, at his <a href="https://www.bartehrman.com/"><strong>website</strong></a>.</p><p>Shadi Hamid is a columnist at <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/shadi-hamid/"><strong>The Washington Post</strong></a>, a research professor of Islamic studies at Fuller Seminary, and the author, most recently, of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Problem-Democracy-America-Middle-East/dp/0197579469"><strong>The Problem of Democracy: America, the Middle East, and the Rise and Fall of an Idea</strong></a>.</p>