My publicist at Moody just released the following statement that I’d like to share with you:
MOODY PUBLISHERS eRELEASE
WHO GOES THERE?- A CULTURAL HISTORY OF HEAVEN AND HELL
Rebecca is available for print, radio, television, and web interviews.
To schedule an interview or to request a review copy, contact:
Stephanie S. Smith
(In)dialogue Communications
steph.in.dialogue@gmail.com
443.955.2394 443.955.2394
Historian Says Bell’s Questions of Eternal Destiny Are Not New
Chicago, IL–An overwhelming eighty-five percent of Americans believe that they are destined for heaven, but is this hope taken for granted? In her book Who Goes There? Rebecca Price Janney traces “a cultural history of heaven and hell,” investigating how popular beliefs of the afterlife have been shaped by events such as JFK’s assassination, the deaths of Princess Diana and Mother Theresa, and the September 11, 2001 attacks. And now, Rob Bell’s latest book, Love Wins, has sparked such a firestorm over his views of heaven and hell that it has opened a whole new chapter in history’s ongoing debate.
Bell’s controversial book poses many questions, Are heaven and hell real places? Who goes where? How do we know and why does it matter? These questions have all been asked before, Janney says, and with a biblical foundation and a panoramic perspective of American history, Janney identifies where these same ideas have shown up in the past and how they influenced popular opinion and lifestyle.
“We dislike the idea that those who die apart from Christ go to hell,” Janney writes in Who Goes There?, but are we willing to let our emotional preference take the lead over truth when souls hang in the balance? Current events, pop culture, and our own emotions color our perspective of eternity more than we may realize.
But Janney believes a right understanding of our eternal destiny is critical, and not just for the end of our lives, but for now, “Living with the hope of Jesus Christ to overcome sin and hell gives meaning and perspective to life, as well as hope, purpose in suffering , and a moral foundation for individuals and society. Believing that we get all this, and heaven too, apart from Christ, is the most dangerous kind of folly.”
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Who Goes There? Video, Blog and Website
REBECCA PRICE JANNEY
is a theologically trained historian and the author of 18 books including Then Comes Marriage?- A Cultural History of the American Family, and two young adult series as well as hundreds of articles in magazines and newspapers. She began writing professionally as a teenager when she covered the Philadelphia Phillies for a New Jersey newspaper. Rebecca resides with her husband and son in suburban Philadelphia.
Sample chapter, video, blog and media resources at:
WhoGoesThereBook.com
www.moodypublishers.com
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