Perdition vs Hell

What is the difference between the religious connotations of Perdition and Hell?


Perdition is the name, in Christian theology, of the state of eternal punishment. Hell is the name given in many religions to a place where evil resides, and where people may be confined to after death, as a punishment for their behaviour during their life.

So: hell is a place, and it is a concept shared between many religions; perdition is a state, and it is a specifically Christian concept.


Definitions are those of the New Oxford American Dictionary:

perdition: (in Christian theology) a state of eternal punishment and damnation into which a sinful and unpenitent person passes after death.

hell: a place regarded in various religions as a spiritual realm of evil and suffering, often traditionally depicted as a place of perpetual fire beneath the earth where the wicked are punished after death.


Both, Perdition and Hell are the same, but Hell seems to be a more universal place. As F'x has said its concept and name are shared between several religions, for example there is Helheim in Scandinavian mythology where a goddess (well, not actually a goddess, but to keep it simple...) named Hel lives and rules. Perdition is more specific, I think, and also it means destruction, death and downfall that is why Judas is called Son of Perdition.