Here comes a big statement that I figure I’ll make whilst this blog is still struggling back to life and has few readers: I don’t think becoming a universalist makes one a heretic.
Take a deep breath. Another. Another. Good. Let me proceed.
I mean specifically a Christian universalism. It’s the minority position by far in church history, but orthodox theologians have believed that God would in Christ reconcile all to himself in the end. “Every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord.” Some version of universalism, or at least the acceptance of its possibility, was held by Clement, Origen, Gregory of Nazianzus, St. Gregory of Nyssa, St. Jerome, and many others. St. Basil and Augustine both noted that the belief was “widespread” and held by “very many.” Annihilationism has been held by no less than John Stott. N.T. Wright and C.S. Lewis both put for ideas both about there being far more saved than we imagine, and about any unsaved completely losing their humanity altogether (ceasing to be human, which I take to be a form of annihilation).
We’re not talking about fringe folks here. These are undoubtedly Christians. This is one of those things that makes me stop and revisit beliefs I’ve always had, and ask difficult questions about those beliefs. I intend to chronicle some of those questions soon. In the meantime, some brief notes about a book I just read on the subject.
To be clear: I am not saying that I am a universalist. But I am very interesting in reading arguments for universalism. I came across the book If Grace is True: Why God Will Save Every Person, by Philip Gulley and James Mulholland, so I grabbed a copy from the library and starting plowing through. I was hoping for a solid argument for Christian universalism. I did not find it here.
This book is a pick-and-choose theology that is illogical, poorly argued, and based on the simple belief that “God whispered to” the author and told him something, and now everything else needs to fit. By just over halfway through the book, he’s completed jumped the shark by ditching Jesus as the means of salvation, as well as his divinity, while continuing to appeal to Jesus and the Scriptures (certain selected ones) to make his case.
A simple disclaimer about theology: If you’re just some random guy in the 21st century, and you think that because God whispered to you, you can just begin picking and choosing what parts of 2,000 years of Christian theology are valid and which are not, you’re not credible. And you’re too arrogant to be listened to.
If there is any possibility at all that an argument can be made for Christian universalism, it must remain Christian. Jesus still has to be the one to do the saving.
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Have you seen “The Evangelical Universalist” by Gregory MacDonald? He makes some solid arguments but he also cites other Christian universalist theologians which you could follow up on.
I agree with Jeremy that Gregory Macdonald’s book is a must-read on this topic, even though I don’t particularly agree with the model he puts forward. (I lean more towards what he describes as “existential universalism”, and to a hopeful rather than dogmatic position, as described in this post on my “universalism” blog).
In any event, as you point out, it’s all got to be about Jesus. “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive”.
Have you read Hans Urs von Balthasar’s Dare We Hope “That All Men Be Saved?” It makes for interesting reading. I think the currently popular distinction between universalism as an “article of hope,” over against an “article of faith,” is largely attributable to him.
The most eloquent defense of universalism I’ve read is George MacDonald’s Unspoken Sermons. His arguments are difficult to argue with, especially when he reconciles universalism with a robust doctrine of hell. A very worthwhile study, for many things beyond just universalism, too.
One book I like on this topic is Thomas Talbott’s Inescapable Love of God.
Have you considered reading The Restitution of All Things by Andrew Jukes or Dare We Hope That All Men Be Saved by Hans Urs Von Balthasar?
Hope this helps.
While I would count myself among those who believe that becoming a universalist does make one a heretic, I appreciate your thoughts. I especially appreciated your paragraph:
That is eminently quotable, indeed!
I’ve written my own review of If Grace Is True at my reading Scripture web site. Thanks!