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Oh Hell

Photo by karmablue, CC via Flickr

It's as hot as you-know-where, so we thought it would be a good time to talk about the history of hell. Our guests are Utah scholars Margaret Toscano and Isabel Moreira, co-editors of a book that looks at historic and modern views of the underworld. They say that hell is all but disappearing in mainstream religions, but it still permeates our books, films and even cartoons.  Tuesday, we'll talk about how the idea of hell developed in religion and philosophy, and why we still seem to need it today.

Isabel Moreira and Margaret Toscano co-edited Hell and its Afterlife [Amazon]. 

Moreira is a Professor of History at the University of Utah. She's author of Heaven's Purge, Purgatory in Late Antiquity [Amazon|Indiebound]

Toscano is an Associate Professor in the University of Utah's Department of Languages and Literature.  Her work focuses on religion, gender, and myth.

See also Alice Turner's The History of Hell [Amazon|Indiebound].

Doug Fabrizio has been reporting for KUER News since 1987, and became News Director in 1993. In 2001, he became host and executive producer of KUER's RadioWest, a one hour conversation/call-in show on KUER 90.1 in Salt Lake City. He has gained a reputation for his thoughtful style. He has interviewed everyone from Isabel Allende to the Dalai Lama, and from Madeleine Albright to Desmond Tutu. His interview skills landed him a spot as a guest host of the national NPR program, "Talk of the Nation." He has won numerous awards for his reporting and for his work with RadioWest and KUED's Utah NOW from such organizations as the Society of Professional Journalists, the Utah Broadcasters Association, the Public Radio News Directors Association and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.