Is Hell a physical place in mainstream Christianity?

Is Hell a physical place in mainstream Christianity?

Historically, Christians believe that hell is a physical place, but as St. Augustine says: "It is my opinion that the nature of hell-fire and the location of hell are known to no man unless the Holy Ghost made it known to him by a special revelation", (City of God XX.16)

Where is hell? Some were of opinion that hell is everywhere, that the damned are at liberty to roam about in the entire universe, but that they carry their punishment with them. The adherents of this doctrine were called Ubiquists, or Ubiquitarians; among them were, e.g., Johann Brenz, a Swabian, a Protestant theologian of the sixteenth century. However, that opinion is universally and deservedly rejected; for it is more in keeping with their state of punishment that the damned be limited in their movements and confined to a definite place. Moreover, if hell is a real fire, it cannot be everywhere, especially after the consummation of the world, when heaven and earth shall have been made anew. As to its locality all kinds of conjectures have been made; it has been suggested that hell is situated on some far island of the sea, or at the two poles of the earth; Swinden, an Englishman of the eighteenth century, fancied it was in the sun; some assigned it to the moon, others to Mars; others placed it beyond the confines of the universe [Wiest, "Instit. theol.", VI (1789), 869]. The Bible seems to indicate that hell is within the earth, for it describes hell as an abyss to which the wicked descend. We even read of the earth opening and of the wicked sinking down into hell (Numbers 16:31 sqq.; Psalm 54:16; Isaiah 5:14; Ezekiel 26:20; Philippians 2:10, etc.). Is this merely a metaphor to illustrate the state of separation from God? Although God is omnipresent, He is said to dwell in heaven, because the light and grandeur of the stars and the firmament are the brightest manifestations of His infinite splendour. But the damned are utterly estranged from God; hence their abode is said to be as remote as possible from his dwelling, far from heaven above and its light, and consequently hidden away in the dark abysses of the earth. However, no cogent reason has been advanced for accepting a metaphorical interpretation in preference to the most natural meaning of the words of Scripture. Hence theologians generally accept the opinion that hell is really within the earth. The Church has decided nothing on this subject; hence we may say hell is a definite place; but where it is, we do not know. St. Chrysostom reminds us: "We must not ask where hell is, but how we are to escape it" (In Rom., hom. xxxi, n. 5, in P.G., LX, 674). St. Augustine says: "It is my opinion that the nature of hell-fire and the location of hell are known to no man unless the Holy Ghost made it known to him by a special revelation", (City of God XX.16). Elsewhere he expresses the opinion that hell is under the earth (Retract., II, xxiv, n. 2 in P.L., XXXII, 640). St. Gregory the Great wrote: "I do not dare to decide this question. Some thought hell is somewhere on earth; others believe it is under the earth" (Dial., IV, xlii, in P.L., LXXVII, 400; cf. Patuzzi, "De sede inferni", 1763; Gretser, "De subterraneis animarum receptaculis", 1595). - Hell (Catholic Encyclopædia)

St. Thomas Aquinas who is honoured in several denominations as as renowned theologian wrote in his Summa Theologica that hell would be a physical dwelling, with a physical fire that will not be made of matter!

In Summa Theologica, Thomas Aquinas taught that hell is reserved for the wicked and the unbaptized immediately after death, but that those who die only in original sin will not suffer in hell. Aquinas also taught that, on Judgment Day, the punishment of hell will consist of fire and of "whatever is ignoble and sordid," since "all the elements conduce to the torture of the damned," who "placed their end in material things." Aquinas further taught that the worm of the damned is a guilty conscience, that the damned will suffer over the fact of having separated themselves from God, that the damned will physically weep on Judgement Day, that hell is so full of darkness that the damned can only see things which will torment them, that the "disposition of hell" is "utmost unhappiness," that the fire of hell is non-physical (before Judgment Day) and physical (at Judgment Day), that the physical fire of hell will not be made of matter, and that whether or not hell is under the earth is unknown. Aquinas taught that the suffering of punishment is according to one's sins, so that some will suffer more, in deeper and darker pits of hell, than others. - Hell (Wikipedia)

Nevertheless, a divergence of opinions reside amongst many denominations about the question of Hell. Some deny it all together.

Similar to the question on heaven, there are two different meanings for the word hell here. An equivocation is happening that causes confusion.

On the one hand, hell refers to the state of someone's soul. This is the case whether that person is in hell before or after the resurrection. Yet, clearly, prior to the resurrection, anyone in hell cannotbe suffering physically, since they are not yet in their bodies. There will also be a resurrection, according to mainstream Christianity, in which all people are raised in their bodies. The blessed will go into eternal beatitiude, but the damned into eternal torment. And, as they are now in their bodies, this second understanding of hell, the eternal hell, is a physical torment.

Read through the accepted answer to the linked question to understand this distinction between heaven/hell prior to the resurrection and heaven/hell after the resurrection.

It might be more accurate to say that all mainstream Christian teaching is that hell is an actual place, with actual pain, and actual awareness of that by the souls in it. In this question, the word 'physical' is stressed. Think again about Jesus' speaking of Lazarus dying and finding himself in bliss "in the bosom of Abraham" and the rich man dying and finding himself in torments in hell (Luke 16:19-31). Read the whole account and note that the two men had left the physical realm and were in a spiritual realm.

Certainly, mainstream Christianity has always taught the reality of heaven and hell, and of the spirits of the dead returning to God (Ecclesiastes 12:6-7), some souls experiencing bliss while others are tormented in hell. In both cases, bodies are spoken of in the Bible. Yet as physical existence is the only one we have experienced, Jesus wisely used words we understand to describe a state we cannot possibly understand until we find ourselves in that state. He used the strongest words possible to convey the horror of ending up in hell, words like 'torments, in flames'. 'Weeping' and 'gnashing of teeth' are other descriptions.

Hell is horribly real. Worryingly, though, some unChristian ideas about hell have been absorbed by much of mainstream Christianity, for instance, some Islamic teachings. But that is not to be gone into here. Let me quote from a Reformed Protestant source that details its views, starting with the relevant part of its Confession XXXII 'Of the State of Men After Death, and of the Resurrection of the Dead':

"1. This section of the Confession teaches us (1) that at death the physical bodies of all men alike return to dust and see corruption, (2) that the souls of all men then enter upon the intermediate state, (3) that the intermediate state differs as respects the righteous and wicked...

The resurrected body of Lazarus was not like unto that glorious body which will be his, and ours, on the resurrection day, if we believe in Jesus (1 Cor. 15:36,37)... At the resurrection, the body will be at last delivered also, to be reunited with the soul, and both body and soul will be spiritual. This does not mean that the body will not be physical...

But the wicked are dead already in this life, both in body and soul. The soul is dead from the very beginning of its natural existence because it is derived from Adam. All men are by nature 'dead in trespasses and sins' (Eph, 2:1f.) But the unbeliever remains dead. And his physical death merely marks an advancement into death as a more complete experience. Unbelievers are already without God and without hope in the world, and yet - in the world - still enjoy some of God's common blessings. But at the time of physical death, they lose even that which they have. Then, there are no more blessings of any sort to alleviate the torment and darkness of their condition. Neither is there any longer a free and gracious invitation of God to salvation through Jesus Christ. All hope is now abandoned. The soul descends into hell. Yet the condition and place of the wicked souls of unbelievers after physical death, and prior to their resurrection, is not a totally new development. It is rather the complete manifestation, the full development, of that condition of soul which began with natural birth in a lost and sinful condition. The wrath of God remains on them. But now it comes to full expression. But even this intermediate state, in which the soul alone reaches mature development in sin and experiences the unalleviated consequences of sin, is not the full manifestation of the damnation of the wicked. That must await the resurrection of the body. Then, and only then, can the reconstituted man experience the physical and spiritual torment that God has reserved for them that are not his. Thus, paradoxically enough, physical death has the effect of delaying not only the full perfection and joy of the righteous but also the full misery and suffering of the wicked." The Westminster Confession of Faith for Study Classes, pp.253-4, G.I. Williamson, Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, 1964

The official doctrine of Hell in Catholicism is detailed in D 16, 40, 429, 464, 693, 717, 835 and 840. It upholds hell's eternity against the doctrine of the apocatastasis as put forward by Origen and other ancient writers (D 211). Here are just a few quotes from the Catholic source below:

"Jesus, like the Baptist, spoke in his eschatological menaces of hell as the eternal place of punishment, prepared not only for the devil and his angels (Mt25:41) but for all who have rejected the salvation offered by God. It is the punishment of their unbelief and refusal to repent. He speaks of hell as a place where eternal, unquenchable fire burns, where there is darkness, howling and gnashing of teeth... St. Paul speaks of hell in abstract theological terms as eternal destruction, ruin and loss...

A certain distinction is made between the loss of the vision of God and the pain of sense (D 410), but apart from this there is no official declaration on the nature of the pains of hell...

The metaphors in which Jesus describes the eternal perdition of man as a possibility which threatens him at this moment are images (fire, worm, darkness, etc.) taken from the mental furniture of contemporary apocalyptic. They all mean the same thing, the possibility of man being finally lost from God in all the dimensions of his existence. Hence it can be seen that the question of whether the 'fire' of hell is real or metaphorical is wrongly put, since 'fire' and suchlike words are metaphorical expressions for something radically not of this world... This does not mean that 'fire' is to be given a 'psychological' explanation. ...It also follows that speculations about the 'place' where hell is to be found are pointless. There is no possibility of inserting hell into the empirical world around us...

The just God is 'active' in the punishment of hell only insofar as he does not release man from the reality of the definitive state which man himself has achieved on his own behalf, contradictory though this state be to the world as God's creation. Hence the notion of vindictive punishment, such as inflicted by political society on those who infringe social order, is not at all suitable to explain the doctrine of hell." Encyclopedia of Theology, pp.602-4, article by Karl Rahner, Burns & Oates, 1981 [Bold emphases mine]

Hence it can be seen that these two mainstream Christian groups are in agreement on those points (although they differ in some other aspects, but not regarding the points raised in this question.)