Hell, Hades, and Christ's Descent (Part 1)

Theological Letters

This email correspondence is with a famous TV star. In my non-academic life, I interact with a lot of people in the movie industry. When they discover that I’m a scholar of philosophy and theology, I sometimes receive questions from stars and other influencers. He reached out to me, asking about Hell and Hades. In this first part, I discuss the conceptual development in biblical and non-biblical Jewish literature, followed by the developments within Eastern Christianity. In a forthcoming post, the conversation continues, as I look at the Western understanding of Hell, and the differences between East and West on the topic. I invite you to please subscribe to support my work. I’ve also just added an extended piece for paying subscribers on Anselm’s Ontological Argument and a rationale as to why it is not Nicene.

Dear “Royal,”

Thanks for your inquiry about the Harrowing of Hell, or Hades. The doctrine is rather significant in Eastern Christian thought, as I’ll explain. However, before I can comment the doctrine, I first need to discuss the difference between Hell and Hades, two distinct terms that are regrettably often conflated.

The terms “Hell” and “Hades” are often used interchangeably by English translators. This unfortunate tendency is a product of Western influence. While Latin has both the words infernum and gehenna, the former served as the normative term in the West to refer to the lower regions, the abyss, and hell interchangeably, without differentiation. Yet, the Greek terms Hell (gehenna) and Hades (hadēs) are used with clear delineation in Jewish tradition, in the NT, and in the Eastern Church fathers. 

In Josephus’ Dissertation on Hades, he lays out the common Jewish understanding of the doctrine in literal terms. Hades, Josephus tells us, is a subterranean region into which the souls of the dead, righteous and wicked, enter. The righteous and wicked are separated by angels, who tend to these souls as they all await judgment. The condition of the righteous is pleasant, while that of the wicked is unpleasant. Josephus also mentions a lake of fire into which the wicked are cast after the final judgement, but he is clear that no one is yet in this lake, since the judgment has not taken place (see his Dissertation on Hades, passim). 

The NT uses both gehenna and hadēs, but the terms are not interchangeable. Their uses instead reflect the Jewish lore explained by Josephus. In the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31), for example, Jesus speaks about hadēs (16:23), not gehenna. The Rich Man lifts up his eyes in Hades and sees Lazarus on Abraham’s bosoms (16:24) — a picture of Lazarus reclining on his chest (cf. Jn 13:23). The Rich Man speaks of being in torment, and of being in a flame, and Abraham mentions a chasm between himself and the Rich Man. Although the parable does not state explicitly that Abraham and Lazarus are in Hades with the Rich Man, this is the implication of Jewish lore reported by Josephus, since this region is the post-mortem dwelling of both the righteous and the wicked. All three are in Hades. There, the Rich Man suffers, while Lazarus is comforted (by Abraham). 

Peter’s Pentecost homily also mentions Hades and confirms the above reading, namely, that it is the holding place for the souls of both the righteous and the wicked. He quotes Psalm 16:8-11 (LXX), which speaks about God not abandoning his Holy One to Hades (not Hell), nor letting him see corruption (Acts 2:27). Peter interprets this Psalm as a prophecy about Christ, since David’s body remains in the grave (subject to corruption), and Peter’s hearers thus presume (as reported by Josephus) that David’s soul is in Hades. But, Peter continues, Christ’s soul was not abandoned to Hades nor his body to corruption. For God raised him from the dead (2:31). 

The declaration that Christ was not abandoned to Hades is in keeping with the NT theme that Christ was victorious over death and Hades. Christ prophesied that the gates of Hades (not Hell) would not prevail against him (Matt 16:18). Peter tells us that in Christ’s descent into Hades, he preached to those held in this “prison” (phylakē) (1 Pet 3:19) in order that they might “live according to God in spirit” (1 Pet 4:6). And Christ’s victory over Hades is, of course, manifest in his Resurrection and proclaimed in both Peter’s Pentecost homily and Christ’s declaration to John that he holds the keys to death and Hades (not Hell) (Rev 1:18). These various passages converge to form the picture that death and Hades is a prison in which mankind was held prior to the advent of Christ; into this prison Christ entered and preached in order to liberate mankind; the gates of this prison did not prevail against him; and because of his victory over death, Christ now holds the keys to death and Hades.

The lake of fire from Jewish lore also appears in the NT, along with the sentiment that the lake is empty until the final judgment. In the book of Revelation, Hades (not Hell) gives up its dead in the universal resurrection for judgment (Rev 20:11-13). Only after the judgment is anyone — or thing — cast into the lake of fire. First death and Hades are cast in (Rev 20:14) and then the wicked (Rev 21:8). 

The biblical use of “Hell” (gehenna) evidently refers to the lake of fire — though the word originally referred to the valley outside of Jerusalem where children were sacrificed to Moloch (cf. Lev 18:21). The numerous NT mentions of “the hell of fire” or “the hell” or “hell” use the language, echoed in Revelation, of being cast or thrown into Hell (Matt 5:30 and Luke 12:5). And Christ explicitly associates gehenna with final judgment (Matt 23:33). More importantly, however, these numerous references speak of being thrown bodily into Hell, indicating a post-resurrection fate. Christ often draws the contrast between those who can harm the body but not the soul and God who can cast both body and soul into Hell; Christ recommends gouging out one eye to avoid being thrown into Hell with two; or cutting off one hand, as opposed to being thrown with two into Hell (Matt 5:30; 5:31; 10:29; 18:9; Mark 9:43, 45, and 47). In other words, disembodied souls are not cast into Hell after death; souls and bodies are cast into Hell after the resurrection and judgment. Presumably, this is the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels (Matt 25:41).

Biblical references to the “second death” refer specifically to the lake of fire (Rev 20:14; 21:8). The experience of the second death in the NT is identified with being cast into this lake (Rev 21:8), an event that occurs only after the universal resurrection and the final judgment (Rev 20:11-13). As mentioned above, such casting is first done to death and Hades (Rev 20:14) and then to the wicked (Rev 21:8).

One last point before moving into the patristic teachings of these subjects, in the NT we also find mention of Tartarus — the dark abyss into which Zeus cast Chronos and the Titans in Greek mythology. This phrase appears in 2 Peter 2:4, referring to the place into which God casts the fallen angels. There, these angels were held by “chains of gloom” (seirais zophou) — or just held in gloom, since the word “chains” does not appear in all manuscripts. Presumably this is the abyss that the demons mention when pleading with Christ to not cast them out of demoniacs (Luke 8:31).

By way of summary, then, the NT teachings about Hell and Hades draw a distinction between these. Hades is the realm of the dead into which the souls of both righteous and wicked enter when the soul departs the body. Man, being captive to death prior to the advent of Christ, was held in this prison. There, the souls of the wicked suffered, while the souls of the righteous were comforted. The Devil and his angels, by contrast, were cast into the abyss of Tartarus after their rebellion, where they were held in (chains of) gloom. As for Christ’s descent, his soul entered Hades after his crucifixion. He preached to souls held captive there. In his resurrection, he was victorious over Hades, and liberated humanity from this prison — its gates did not prevail against him, and he now holds the keys to death and Hades. Hell, by contrast, refers to a lake of eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels. Into this lake none are cast until after the final judgment. At the resurrection, Hades is emptied of whatever souls remain within it and all are judged in the body. Following the judgment, death and Hades are cast into the lake of fire, which is the second death, and then the wicked too are cast bodily into the lake of fire, which is the second death. 

In Eastern patristic literature, we find the very distinction between Hades and Hell that appears in the NT. The Eastern fathers refer to Gehenna as a place of future judgment characterized by fire (e.g., Chrysostom, Hom. Jn. 25.3 (PG 8.147c); Clement, exc. Theod. 38 (PG 9.677b)). And to be cast into Gehenna after the final judgment is to experience the second death (see Andreas of Caesarea, Apoc. 59 (PG 106.408b).

Now, Alexandrian Judaism, with its allegorizing tendencies, rejected the literal interpretation of Jewish lore reported by Josephus. Philo of Alexandria, for example, suggests that Hades is a metaphor for the condition of the soul. Hence Philo, after declaring that there is no subterranean region beneath our feet, says that Hades refers to the condition of the wicked, who wander about in vice apart from God. This condition is the true Hades, says Philo (De congressu eruditionis gratia, 57). 

The Eastern Church fathers, like the Alexandrian Jews, likewise interpret the biblical images as allegorical pictures of deeper truths. Many read the eternal (or uncreated) fire as God’s own love and presence (Origen, Hom. Jer. (PG 13.445, 448); Chrysostom, Hom. LXXVI; St. Symeon the New Theologian, Disc. 78) — which is why this fire (a common picture of God — in both scripture and amongst the Stoics, Heraclitus, et al.) is eternal. Yet, this fire has a double effect, “one that burns, and another that illumines” (Basil, Hom. Ps. 28). The difference, Basil tells us, is not located in God but in the respective conditions of the righteous and the wicked: “The evils in Hell do not have God as their cause, but we cause them.” Just as the sun scorches bad soil while causing good soil to flourish, so the presence of God is joy to the righteous but pain to the wicked (cf. Origen, Cels. 5.16 (PG 11.1205a). Hence, how one experiences the glory of God is based on the “quality of his disposition” (Maximus the Confessor, Ad Thal. 59 (PG 90.609c); cf. John of Damascus, Exp. Ortho. fide 3.29 (PG 94.1101a). 

Whether the condition of the wicked described in the second death is permanent is a matter of dispute amongst the Eastern fathers. The majority view is yes, but St. Isaac of Syria sees even Gehenna as “belonging to mercy” and God’s “eternal goodness,” with its end being purification (The Second Part, XXXIX, 22). Gregory of Nyssa, likewise, holds out hope that those who suffer the condemnation of Gehenna might still be led ultimately into the final restoration of the Kingdom of Heaven (Gregory of Nyssa, De vita Moysis, 2.82). Regardless, even those Eastern fathers who oppose such views, believing Hell represents a final and irreversible state, do not locate the permanence of damnation in God, but in the creature. Chrysostom, who certainly believes Gehenna to be permanent (Hom. Matt 36.3 (PG 7.411a), locates this permanence in the creature’s refusal to repent. In his exposition of the “unpardonable sin,” Chrysostom points out that Christ does not say the sin is per se unpardonable, evident in the fact that many committed it only to repent and find full forgiveness. Hence, any eternal lack of pardon is due to eternal unrepentance (Hom. Matt. 41.5). Hence, as C. S. Lewis’ well-known phrase puts it, Hell is locked from the inside. For God calls all to salvation, but he never deals forcibly or coercively with anyone.

Regarding Hades, the Eastern fathers have far more to say, precisely because of the doctrine of Christ’s descent thereto. Like the NT, the Eastern fathers identify Hades as the realm of the dead, equating it with Sheol of the Old Testament. As for who is in Hades, they are clear that, because death came to all men through Adam, Hades held both the righteous and the wicked, prior to the advent of Christ (Irenaeus,Haer. 5.31.2 (PG 7.1209b); Athansius, Or. iii adv. Ar., 1.43 (PG 26.101b); Theodoret of Cyrus, Eranisles, 3 (PG 4.199); Basil of Caesarea, Hom. Ps. 48 (PG 29.453a); Macarius of Egypt, Hom. 11.19 (PG 34.552c); Cyril of Alexandria, Nest. 5.5 (PG 61.136d)). There, in Hades, all sat in darkness. The wicked suffered, while the righteous were comforted as they waited for Christ, the door to the Father (Ignatius, Ep. Phil. 3, 9).

Several Eastern fathers suggest that the preparation for Christ’s own descent began well before the advent of Christ. Both Chrysostom and Origen speak about the OT prophets preaching to the dead about Christ’s future coming (Origen, 2nd Hom. Kings (PG 12.1021c); Chrysostom, Hom. 11 (PG 13.247a)). And both Origen and Gregory of Nazianzus teach that John the Baptist, who was the forerunner of Christ on the earth, was also his forerunner “under the earth,” preaching to souls in Hades about the quickly Christ who was soon to come (Gregory of Nazianzus, Or. 43.75 (PG 36.597a); Origen, 2nd Hom. Kings (PG 12.1024a); Comm. Lk. 4).

Now, regarding Christ’s descent into Hades, the Eastern fathers consistently treat it as salvific — as significant to the salvation of humanity as his Crucifixion or Resurrection. By descending into Hades, Christ saves humanity from death and Hades (Origen, Hom.Gen. 15.5; engirt. 6 (PG 12.1020d); Cyril of Jerusalem, Cat. 14.17, 19). The underlying rationale is this. Christ’s descent destroys death because, being divine, he bears in his person Eternal Life. Hence, when Christ enters Hades, Life enters the realm of the dead (Cyril of Jerusalem, Cat. 19.4; Gregory of Nyssa, Apoll. 17 (PG 45.1156a)). Both Chrysostom and John of Damascus speak about the light of Christ destroying the darkness of Hades — the Sun of Righteousness filling it, his deified soul, shining forth the uncreated light of God into its darkness (Chrysostom, Hom. cem. cr. (PG 49.394-5); John of Damascus, Exp. Ortho. fide 3.29 (PG 94.1101a)). So, just as created light destroys darkness, so the divine light and life of Christ in Hades destroys its darkness of death. For this reason, the Eastern fathers also speak about Christ transforming Hades from dark and joyless into paradise. Chrysostom sees this in Christ’s promise to the thief on the cross. Christ could promise the thief that he would be in paradise today, even though they would both descend into Hades — Christ stating plainly after his Resurrection that he did not yet ascend to his Father (Jn 20:17). The paradise the thief was promised was in Hades, for there the light of Christ would shine, making that place into paradise (Chrysostom, Hom. cem. cr. (PG 49.394-5)).

The undoing of death in Christ’s descent also informs how the Eastern fathers understand Christ to have defeated the Devil, who holds the power of death (Justin, dial. 91.4 PG 6.693b; Athanasius, Term. Fid. 13 (PG 26.1269c); Cyril of Alexandria, Jo. 4.2 (PG 73.353c)). Gregory of Nyssa famously describes the defeat of Satan using a “fish hook” metaphor. The Devil, catching glimpses of divine light within Christ’s flesh, is enticed to lay hold of him, like a fish drawn to bait on a hook. Seeing the Son of God veiled in mortal flesh (cf. Chrysostom, Hom. Matt. 2.1), Satan cannot resist the prospect of killing him. But what the Devil does not realize is that, in delivering Christ to Hades, Christ will undo death, and thus overthrow Satan’s power over humanity, bringing life to the dead (Gregory of Nyssa, Orat. cat. 23-4). In this way, Christ binds the strong man (the Devil) and plunders his house (Hades) (Origen, Comm. Rom. 5.10 (PG 14.1051c-2b); Chrysostom, Hom. cem. cr. (PG 49.395-6)).

This “plundering” is depicted by the Eastern fathers as Christ emptying the tombs of Hades (Amphilochius of Iconium, Hom. 6) and breaking its gates, as he prophesied (Eusebius, CH, 1.13.20; Gregory of Nazianzus, Disc. 45.1-2 (PG 36.624c); Chrysostom, Hom. cem. cross (PG 49.394-5); Epiphanius of Cyprus, Exp. fide 17 (PG 42.814c-6a)). For the gates of Hades held humanity within the prison (phylakē) of death (Origin, Comm. Jn. 6; Basil of Caesarea, Hom. Ps. 48.9 (PG 29.451-4); Pseudo-Macarius, Spiritual Hom. 11.11-3 (PG 34.552d-6a)). In breaking these, Christ liberated all those held there — that is, the whole human race. For the Eastern fathers are clear: Christ descended in order to save all of humanity (Athanasius, Contra Arii. 3.56 (PG 26.441a); Amphilochius of Iconium, Hom. 6; Chrysostom, Hom. cem. cr. (PG 49.395-6); Cyril of Alexandria, 7th Pasch. Hom. (PG 77.552a); Gregory of Naz., Disc. 45.24 (PG 36.657a)). In this light, the phrase of Lewis — that Hell is locked from the inside — is too strong. For it suggests that there is still a door between humanity and God. According to the Eastern fathers, the gates of Hades have been destroyed. The more appropriate picture is of a former prison in which all the bars have been removed and destroyed. If any remain within the prison, it is not because of a gate.

In addition to transforming Hades and plundering it, the Eastern fathers also speak about Christ preaching to the souls there, drawing on 1 Peter 3:19. They speak about Christ appearing to the dead in Hades, just as he appeared to the mortals upon the earth (Melito, De bapt. frag. 8b, 4). And there, in Hades, Christ preached to them, righteous and wicked alike, converting all who were willing to receive him (Clement of Alexandria, Stro. 6.6; Origen, Contra Celsus 2.43; Maximus the Confessor, Ad Thal. 7 (PG 90.284b-c); John of Damascus, Exp. Ortho. fide 3.29 (PG 94.1101a)). Now, whether all did in fact receive Christ is a question that most Eastern fathers pass over in silence. They confidently affirm that the OT Saints received Christ, since it was him whom they anticipated and awaited (Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 4.27.2), but the Eastern fathers make no dogmatic assertions about the wicked. The wicked were liberated with the righteous; Christ preached to the wicked; he did so in order to save them; and as many as received him were saved (Clement of Alexandria, Stro. 6.6; John of Damascus, Exp. Ortho. fide 3.29 (PG 94.1101a); Maximus the Confessor, Ad Thal. 7 (PG 90.284b-c)). On this they agree. But whether none, some, or all of the wicked did in fact receive Christ and exit Hades is a matter that few Eastern fathers speculate about. 

Maximus the Confessor illuminates the liberation of the wicked in Hades in his comments on 1 Peter 4:6. He explains that those who rebelled in the time of Noah were judged in the flesh as men (drowned and their disembodied souls were cast into Hades) so that they might live according to God in the spirit (at the preaching of Christ). Maximus here echoes the Eastern patristic theme that death is a divine mercy, which unmakes corrupted man, so that we might be remade incorrupt in the resurrection from the dead (see my essay “On Whether the Soul is Immortal according to the Eastern Church Fathers,” St. Vladimir’s Quarterly, section 4 (forthcoming, though you can find the PDF on my academia page or personal website)). So, in the same way, the wicked in the time of Noah were unmade by their drowning, so that they might be made alive by the preaching of Christ and remade incorrupt in the resurrection (Maximus the Confessor, Ad Thal. 7 (PG 90.284b-c)). So it is for all the wicked held in Hades. Yet, whether the wicked receive Christ and the life he offers or not, the fact remains that Christ’s descent has transformed Hades, liberated all, and opened the way back to the Father of Lights.

Though Hades is more often than not depicted as a place, which is a prison, or “Satan’s house,” in which humanity is held captive, Eastern patristic literature — and iconography — also depicts Hades as a sentient being that swallows up humanity, holding dead men captive within its belly. Arguably, this sentient depiction of Hades is taken from Revelation, where Hades “gives up” — an active verb (adōkan) — the dead within it and is later thrown into the lake of fire, a picture more easily associated with a being than a cave beneath the earth. But regardless of the source, this anthropomorphic image of Hades also plays a role in the Eastern patristic teachings on Christ’s victory. We see it is poetically employed in The Gospel of Nicodemus, written sometime between the 3rd and 5th centuries. Therein, we find the following dialogue between Satan and Hades:

Satan, the prince and chief of death, said to Hades: Make yourself ready to receive Jesus, who boasts himself to be the Son of God, whereas he is a man that fears death…. Hades answered and said to Satan the prince: Who is he that is so mighty, if he is a man that fears death? For all the mighty ones of the earth are held in subjection by my power, even they whom you have brought me subdued by your power. If, then, you are mighty, what manner of man is this Jesus who, though he fears death, resists your power? … But Satan the prince of Tartarus said: Why do you doubt and fear to receive this Jesus which is your adversary and mine? … Hades answered and said: You have told me that it is he that has taken away dead men from me [e.g., Lazarus]…. Satan the prince of death answered and said: It is the same Jesus. When Hades heard that he said to him: I adjure you by thy strength and mine own that you bring him not to me.

In Eastern Christian iconography, this sentient Hades is depicted in what is sometimes (inaccurately) called the “Hell mouth” in the icon of the Final Judgment icon. In the lower right corner of the icon is the head of a large monster, from which comes the dead for judgment. In some (rare) icons of the Resurrection, Christ is depicted as coming forth from this same monstrous head, bringing with him Adam, Eve, and others who have died. And this same head appears in the icon of Jonah. In keeping with Christ’s own words that Jonah is a picture of his future descent into “the belly of the earth” (that is, into Hades) (Matt 12:40), Eastern Christian iconographers often depict Jonah in the garb of Christ, coming forth from the fish that is depicted as Hades, the same monstrous head we see displayed in the icon of the Final Judgment. 

It is this monstrous Hades whom Chrysostom, in his famous Paschal homily, speaks of as repeatedly “embittered” (pikrainō) — a term of sentiens — because it took into itself a body but encountered God; it took into itself earth and encountered Heaven; it took into itself the visible and encountered the invisible (PG 59.721-24). The picture is an inversion of a living body taking into itself poison, which communicates to it death. In this case, Hades, who is the embodiment of death, takes into itself Him who is Life, and this Christ communicates life to all within it. The defeat of Hades that follows is the Resurrection of Jesus (Methodius, Res. 2.18 (PG 18.284a)). This event of events is anthropomorphized as Hades vomiting up Christ, since it cannot digest him who bears in his person Life itself (Chrysostom, Hom. 1 Cor. 24.7 (PG 12.142-3)). In this defeat of Hades, Christ thus demonstrates that death has no dominion over him (Origen, Comm. Rom. 5.10 (PG 14.1051c-2b)), as he steps forth as the first fruits of the Resurrection from the dead, showing us the way of resurrection (John of Damascus, Exp. Ortho. fide 3.29 (PG 94.1101a)). And while Christ descended alone, he rose and ascended with many (Eusebius,CH, 1.13.20; Basil, Hom. Ps. 48.9(PG 29.451-4)). 

Now, as with Hell, the imagery of Hades is read in an allegorical way by the Eastern fathers, which is why they are untroubled by the idea that Hades might be depicted in multiple ones — sometimes as a place and other times as a being. Macrina, when speaking to her brother, Gregory of Nyssa, offers a reductio ad absurdum as to why Hades cannot literally be “under the earth.” As she points out, the dwelling of spirits is the air, and the earth is a sphere. Hence, the air under the earth is the same air above the earth. So, when the soul leaves the body and enters “Hades,” its spatial location is a matter of indifference; the fact that it has departed from the body is what locates it within the realm of the dead (Gregory of Nyssa, De anima (v.444)). Gregory of Nyssa also finds fault in the literal reading of Hades as a place with an unbridgeable gulf between the righteous and the wicked. As Gregory points out, the Rich Man and Lazarus are portrayed as standing on either side of this gulf, and yet they are able to speak to one another. Rejecting the gulf as spatial, Gregory interprets this divide as the unbridgeable spiritual gulf between the righteous and the wicked, between virtue and vice (De anima (v.833-5); Ep. Bishop Theod.). Hence, much like the allegorical readings of Gehenna, the great divide is based on the differing conditions of the souls, not their location. This same line of thinking also echoes in Chrysostom, who, as mentioned, points out that Christ promises paradise to the thief on the day of his death, but they do not ascend to the Father. Rather, it is in Hades that the thief experiences paradise, for Christ is there with him. A place called Paradise is not what is promised, but the spiritual condition, for the Kingdom of Heaven is within (cf. Lk 17:21) (Chrysostom, Hom. cem. cr.(PG 49.394-5)). Likewise, Chrysostom is clear that the “gates of bronze” that Christ breaks are not in fact bronze, as if a craftsman shaped gates for Hades; rather, the imagery of bronze gates is merely illustrative of the mercilessness hold of death upon humanity; it is this hold that Christ breaks (Chrysostom, Hom. cem. cr. (PG 49.394-5)). Likewise, Macarius suggests that the true descent of Christ is into the human heart, which was long held by death, and there, within the heart, Christ commands death to release us. This descent, says Macarius, is a present reality for all of humanity for all time, likened to the rain that God sends upon the just and the unjust alike (Pseudo-Macarius, Spiritual Hom. 11.11-3 (PG 34.552d-6a)). By this descent into the heart of humanity, Christ has healed our nature and reopened the way to ascend back to God our Father (Cyril of Alexandria, 7Festive Letters, 2.8; 5.1; 6.12; 11.8; 14.2; 20.4 (PG 77.848-9); 21.3 (PG 77.856a); 28.4 (PG 77.956a)). Or to employ the image of Hades as a prison, discussed above, Christ has forever destroyed the gates of this prison. There are no bars; all have been liberated; and the way back to the Father of Lights remains open to all people of all times and all places — even though we must freely embrace this freedom and follow Christ out of Hades.

I hope that helps.

Sincerely,

Dr. Jacobs

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Nathan A. Jacobs, Ph.D.
Scholar in Residence of Philosophy and Religion in the Religion in the Arts in Contemporary Culture Program (RACC)
Vanderbilt University, Divinity School
http://nathanajacobs.com
https://vanderbilt.academia.edu/NathanAJacobs