What is the history of hell?
Matteo Al Kalak will explore how hell has been imagined through the centuries as a physical and tangible place, somewhere out there, influencing everyday life, shaping fear in the Christian West, and bolstering religious authority. From ancient dogmas to modern debates, Professor Al Kalak will discuss why the idea of hell has endured and what it reveals about humanity’s struggles with mortality, power and the unknown.
Matteo Al Kalak is a professor of early modern history and the history of Christianity at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy. He is the author of The Heresy of the Brothers, a Heterodox Community in Sixteenth-Century Italy (Brepolis, 2022), Eating God: A History of the Eucharist (Routledge, 2023) and, most recently, Fuoco e fiamme: Storia e geografia dell’inferno (Fire and flames: The history and geography of hell) (Einaudi, 2024).
Fact or Value 