Reddit reviews The History of Hell

The History of Hell, by Alice Turner, was a great read for me. However, it goes into interpretations and evolution of our perceptions of Hell from every religion, not just the Abrahamic religions.

I'm not a Christian but I used to be and I still like to read Christian/Jewish history, I'm not sure why. Here's some interesting stuff regarding Christian eschatology.

Judaism had very little to say about any afterlife before the influence of the Greeks. Judaism was a religion for the here-and-now. It helped people deal with the vicissitudes of life in a harsh world. Under the Hasmonian Kings, following Alexander's conquering of the Babylonians that allowed Jews to return to their homeland, Greek ideas influenced Judaism. Prior to that, it was only really good people (like Elijah) who ascended to Heaven and really bad people (like the rich man who wouldn't let the beggar eat scraps from his table) that went to the lake of fire. Also, there was nothing to indicate that it was eternal. Everybody else remained dead until the Messiah would come and bring the Kingdom of God to the Earth. Source

Hell plays a much more central role in Christianity, obviously, since by that time it had been well established. But even in Christianity, Hell didn't always play the role it does today. Part of the reason that Hell became so big in Christianity is that it played well with poor people. Poor communities did not always have access to ordained priests (in early to mid second millennium). So local holy men, for lack of a better phrase, would adopt the role. They relied, however, on their charisma and ability to draw a crowd. Instead of a usual sermon, there were often "morality plays," which are just what you might imagine: a play with a Christian moral. Well the ones about Satan and Hell were a massive draw. Costumes for the Devil were often very scary (employing bear skins, horns, etc). It was basically an early horror film. Some of these would travel as well. The result was that fire and brimstone preaching got an early and strong foothold in the popular imagination, particularly among that of poor people. Source

The early church didn't "make up" the idea of hell, it was already present in Judaism and the nascent Christian sect. What they did was define it more narrowly under Augustine. Look into reading The History of Hell by Alice Turner.

Read this. Once I saw how the entire myth was fabricated culturally through the centuries, my fear dissipated.

I'm reading History of Hell for a college class, it's an easy read and pretty comprehensive source.

A History of Hell is a pretty good pop book on the subject. Early Christians had a wide variety of beliefs about this and most everything else. Unfortunately, we have little other than the writings of those in the Catholic/Orthodox line to go by; and they were still divided on this. Tertullian in particular advanced the idea of Hell as eternal, and Augustine pretty much cemented it.