ABSTRACT
This chapter examines Richard Swinburne's defence of hell. Richard Swinburne has become well known for his contribution to the philosophy of religion over the second half of the twentieth century. Born in 1934, Swinburne was awarded a scholarship to read classics at the age of eighteen and then after a break for military service, studied philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford University. Although the problem of hell has not been a major focus of Swinburne's work, in order to create a complete and systematic account of Christianity, he has paid it considerable attention. Swinburne's main defence of the doctrine of hell is that it is necessitated by human freedom. Although Swinburne rejects the idea of eternal fires of hell, he does believe that there will be an eternal separation of fates, and he believes that this is the teaching of the New Testament.
