The Name of the Day...

...belongs to a Rev. Edward Fudge, of Katy, Texas. According to an article in today's Times (my emphasis):

Mr. Fudge’s inquiry into the nature of damnation resulted in his seminal 1982 book, “The Fire That Consumes,” in which he argued that the suffering of the wicked in hell is finite, that after a time their souls are extinguished. This view, called “conditional immortality” or sometimes the more macabre “annihilationism,” is in direct opposition to the traditional Christian view that suffering in hell lasts forever.
___

And in 2012, Mr. Fudge achieved the ultimate mark of American celebrity, the biopic. “Hell and Mr. Fudge” can be streamed in its entirety on the web, allowing one to see Mr. Fudge — played by Mackenzie Astin, best known for his childhood role on the 1980s TV series “The Facts of Life” — first as a boy, then in his college days, courting his wife, and, as an adult, doing the research that led him to renounce the traditional view of hell.

All right, rule number one: beware of people in mock turtlenecks.

Second, what sort of "research" do you suppose the good reverend did to arrive at his "conclusions" about the afterlife?

Now, granted, this guy is from Texas so all bets are off. But can you imagine the intellectual arrogance of someone who has "determined" what, exactly, the afterlife entails?

I'm sure glad he cleared that up for the rest of us.