Between Heaven and Hell by Peter Kreeft

Between Heaven and Hell is an examination of the claims of Jesus Christ written in the form of a Socratic dialogue. It was first published in 1982 and there is a second edition or “Expanded Edition” published in 2008. This brief review is of the latter.

The premise and setting, as stated in the subtitle, is A Dialog Somewhere Beyond Death with John F. Kennedy, C.S. Lewis & Aldous Huxley. This was in part inspired by the fact that these three men died on the same day on 22 November 1963, within hours of each other.

According to Kreeft, these three men represented the three versions of Christianity: the traditional “mainline” version of Lewis (theist), the somewhat modernist version of JFK (humanist) and the “Orientalized” version of Huxley (pantheist).

It should be noted that JFK’s humanism is not the extreme anti-Christian version. Also, although Lewis was Anglican and JFK was Roman Catholic, the author mostly does not distinguish between Catholicism and protestantism since, in this era, both camps have their traditionalists and modernists. The focus of the discussion is whether the claims of Jesus are true.

The book is short, with the dialogue at about one hundred pages long. Just over half is primarily a discussion between Lewis and JFK, and the second half is primarily a discussion between Lewis and Huxley.

The dialogue starts with the question of where these three men are. It is obviously “somewhere beyond death”, but is it Heaven, Hell or Purgatory? After examining topics such as faith, reason and authority, the discussion proceeds to the question of Jesus, whether he is divine.

In short, the voice of Lewis answers the common objections to Christianity voiced by JFK and Huxley. The argument is essentially Lewis’s “Lord, Liar or Lunatic” as covered in Mere Christianity (1952).

It should be noted that Kreeft had never met C.S. Lewis but according to a friend of Lewis, Kreeft managed to “make Lewis sound exactly the way he sounded in real life”.

This updated edition includes a postscript and two appendixes.

Appendix A is a 14-page dialogue between a young woman and an old rabbi titled “A World Without an Easter”. In this alternate history, Jesus existed and was crucified but did not resurrect. A small number of “Christians” exist but their belief in the resurrection is more “spiritual”, as in metaphorical. This view is criticized, consistent with what was stated by Apostle St Paul.

Appendix B is an outline of the main Socratic dialogue. This is a good addition to the notes in the margins since, as a dialogue, it does not have headings.

This may not be Kreeft’s most fun text, especially if one is already familiar with the arguments, but, like his other works, it is structured and written well.

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