Most western religions believe that when a person dies, he or she goeseither to heaven or to hell and remains there eternally. The individual isforever numbered among the ?sheep? who will inherit eternal life oramong the ?goats? who will suffer everlasting punishment.Although belief in endless torment in hell has been increasingly questionedin recent centuries, the traditional view of the ?four last things'death, judgment, heaven, and hell'continues to shape expectations aboutthe present and the future.While this view of the last things is familiar in the West, the religions ofsouth and east Asia have a different outlook. For Hinduism and Buddhismthis human life is merely one in an ongoing series of lives, with no clearand abiding separation between ?sheep? and ?goats.'In this book I ask why the eastern and western beliefs are so different andI look for explanations. The monotheism of the western faiths is a significantelement, but many other doctrines, including views of the nature ofGod, scripture and authority, human nature, justice, and punishment, arealso involved.I conclude that the tradition of an everlasting hell is incompatible with anaccurate interpretation of scripture and with the Christian doctrine ofGod. The ?goats? do not exist, in the West as well as the East.Examining the major world religions, Hall Peebles has found deep differencesamong them about the last judgment, which has been so crucial totraditional Christianity. He asks, Why do the eschatologies of east andwest differ so sharply? Why is there no eternal hell in Hinduism andBuddhism? The answers to these questions are important to theologians,historians of religion, and students of religion, and everyone else whothinks, talks, and preaches about hell.Moreover, the religions? views of the'last things? not only govern their expectations about the future; theseviews also color their understanding of human nature and society in thisworld here and now.Peebles? unique contribution to the understanding of western religions ishis argument that hell cannot be eternal. Examining carefully the easternreligions, which have no tradition of eternal hell, and the western traditionin support of it, he concludes that an eternal hell is illogical andincompatible with western beliefs, especially as articulated in Christianity.The subject of this book is not unique, but its breadth of treatment, thecomparison with eastern religions, and above all the conclusion rejectingthe eternality of hell are, taken together, unique. This book is an essentialaddition to scholarship in eschatology.