Today, hell is a front-burner topic, thanks to media attention stirred by megapastors Rob Bell, Francis Chan, and others. But, between the extremes of universal salvation and everlasting torment, there shines a third view, known as annihilationism or conditional immortality, claiming the most biblical support of all.

Now the man whose 500-page book, The Fire That Consumes, helped ignite the scholarly debate thirty years ago brings this exciting alternative viewpoint to the everyday reader in simple form. And the story behind the book is now the subject of a feature film, "Hell and Mr. Fudge," due to release

in theaters in 2012 (and starring Mackenzie Astin and Keri Lynn Pratt; see www.hellandmrfudge.com).

Arianism has been called the "archetypal Christian heresy" - a denial of the divine status of Christ. In his examination, now augmented by new material, Rowan Williams argues that Arius himself was a dedicated theological conservative whose concern was to defend the free and personal character of the Christian God. His "heresy" grew out of the attempt to unite traditional biblical language with radical philosophical ideas and techiniques, and was, from the start, involved with issues of authority in the church. Thus, the crisis of the early 4th century was not only about the doctrine of God, but also about the relations between emperors, bishops and ascetical "charismatic" teachers in the church's decision-making. Williams raises the wider questions of how heresy is defined and how certain kinds of traditionalism transform themselves into heresy. With a fresh conclusion, in which the author reflects on how his views have changed or remained the same, and a new introduction, this book is suitable reading for students of patristics, doctrine and church history.