Q & R: Etermal Torment?

Here’s the Q:

Leaders like you, Peter Enns, Richard Rohr, and Rob Bell have given voice to my soul which has known for years that there was something wrong with the ‘Greco Roman Narrative’ of fall, original sin, substitutional atonement, heaven, hell, etc. So thank you. I am all in with this ‘new kind of Christianity’.

So in that light, can you tell me what you do with Matthew 25? Jesus’ reference to eternal torment in these parables are troubling. Is there a book that might point me in the right direction?

Thank you for what you are doing-

Here’s the R:

The book that I wrote on the subject of hell is called The Last Word and the Word After That.

A short thought that I explore in more detail in the book. So much of what Jesus does in his teaching, I believe, is not simply teaching. It is unteaching. It is deconstruction, disruption, and the overthrow of established assumptions. So if people assume that “good people” are those who eat the right foods, sleep with the right person, observe the right taboos and holidays and rituals, etc., Jesus comes along and flips the script. It’s not the ritually pure … but the compassionate. The point of the parable is not about the afterlife, but the good life. I hope that helps!