Bishop Barron No Longer A Hopeful Universalist?

[St_Michael]

I found this article by Bishop Barron written in 2012. Here’s the conclusion:

It seems to me that Pope Benedict’s position – affirming the reality of Hell but seriously questioning whether that the vast majority of human beings end up there – is the most tenable and actually the most evangelically promising.

Here’s Pope Benedicts position earlier in the paper:

Pope’s 2007 encyclical “Spe Salvi,” which can be summarized as follows: There are a relative handful of truly wicked people in whom the love of God and neighbor has been totally extinguished through sin, and there are a relative handful of people whose lives are utterly pure, completely given over to the demands of love. Those latter few will proceed, upon death, directly to heaven, and those former few will, upon death, enter the state that the Church calls Hell. But the Pope concludes that “the great majority of people” who, though sinners, still retain a fundamental ordering to God, can and will be brought to heaven after the necessary purification of Purgatory

Clearly this isn’t hopeful universalism. It looks like Bishop Barron has changed his view. Article can be found here:

catholicnewsagency.com/column/how-many-are-saved-2383/

[Holy-Fool-P-Zombie]

@St. Michael

I found this article by Bishop Barron written in 2012. Here’s the conclusion:

It seems to me that Pope Benedict’s position – affirming the reality of Hell but seriously questioning whether that the vast majority of human beings end up there – is the most tenable and actually the most evangelically promising.

Here’s Pope Benedicts position earlier in the paper:

Pope’s 2007 encyclical “Spe Salvi,” which can be summarized as follows: There are a relative handful of truly wicked people in whom the love of God and neighbor has been totally extinguished through sin, and there are a relative handful of people whose lives are utterly pure, completely given over to the demands of love. Those latter few will proceed, upon death, directly to heaven, and those former few will, upon death, enter the state that the Church calls Hell. But the Pope concludes that “the great majority of people” who, though sinners, still retain a fundamental ordering to God, can and will be brought to heaven after the necessary purification of Purgatory

Clearly this isn’t hopeful universalism. It looks like Bishop Barron has changed his view. Article can be found here:

catholicnewsagency.com/column/how-many-are-saved-2383/

Interesting, Michael. It sounds similar to Purgatorial Conditionalist, except for 2 differences.

Everyone could potentially be saved.
If a few are not saved, they do not go to an eternal hell.

Well, I have a deep, deep question. The name Bishop Baron, caused me to think of this. Suppose someone was given the English title of Baron. But they also revived a PhD at Oxford. Then they entered seminary and rose to become either an Anglican, Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, or Protestant Bishop. When you introduce the person by title, in what order to you put:

Baron
Doctor
Bishop

If I remember permutations correctly (perhaps Paidion can aid me), I think you have nine.

Would I call this person Bishop Doctor Baron Baron, or some other order

[St_Michael]

Cool Randy. I’ve never heard of that before. (Purgatorial Conditionalist)

As for you question. All I have to say is

[Neil]

you know, it wouldnt surprise me one bit if God just unilaterally forgave everybody when we all reach the next world…the older I get the more I think along these lines…imagine God turning to all the saved Christians and asking them what should happen to the unsaved…the self righteous ones are baying for blood…asking for wrath to fall on them…THEN, God asks them ‘whoever of you was without sin, cast the first stone’…and they all pull back…and God does not condemn nor visit His wrath on the ‘unsaved’…after all, either Jesus IS the Savior of the entire world or He is not…I think we will all find God is far more merciful than we could ever have imagined.

[St_Michael]

Good thoughts Neil. I’m leaning towards Robin Parry’s views in Four Views On Hell at the moment though. He says a lot I agree with. He shows in his chapter that God’s justice is not only retributive but also restorative. And this is consistent with Kolasis. From Thayer’s Greek Lexicon it states:

Correction, Punishment, Penalty

So, the word means corrective punishment. Indeed, God hates evil (according to Parry) and Christ annihilates evil. It’s the old sinful self that would be destroyed in the Lake of Fire. Just as the present Heavens and Earth are destroyed through fire but there is a new Heavens and Earth. It’s a purifying judgment. I agree that Christ died for all in some sense. He is the savior of all - ESPECIALLY them that believe. ~~ 1 Tim. 4:10. Christ died for all and will reconcile all to Himself. He just didn’t die for all in the same way. That is to say, God shows mercy to all but not in the same way. Those in hell experience mercy after God’s just wrath or retributive punishment. Those who are in faith union with Christ are crucified with Him as they die to the old self and resurrected to new life. God’s wrath is removed from them (along with their rebellion) so that the can see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. They are saved by grace through faith. God may discipline them but this isn’t His punishing wrath. I believe God predestines the first-fruits. The second-fruits receive mercy as do the first-fruits just not in the same way. The second fruits are punished and purified as they are baptized in the lake of fire. The first will be last and the last will be first but we will all make it. It makes sense to me anyway and is consistent with the scriptures. It’s the view I may come to. We’ll see.

[Neil]

Good thoughts Neil. I’m leaning towards Robin Parry’s views in Four Views On Hell at the moment though. He says a lot I agree with. He shows in his chapter that God’s justice is not only retributive but also restorative. And this is consistent with Kolasis. From Thayer’s Greek Lexicon it states:

Correction, Punishment, Penalty

So, the word means corrective punishment. Indeed, God hates evil (according to Parry) and Christ annihilates evil. It’s the old sinful self that would be destroyed in the Lake of Fire. Just as the present Heavens and Earth are destroyed through fire but there is a new Heavens and Earth. It’s a purifying judgment. I agree that Christ died for all in some sense. He is the savior of all - ESPECIALLY them that believe. ~~ 1 Tim. 4:10. Christ died for all and will reconcile all to Himself. He just didn’t die for all in the same way. That is to say, God shows mercy to all but not in the same way. Those in hell experience mercy after God’s just wrath or retributive punishment. Those who are in faith union with Christ are crucified with Him as they die to the old self and resurrected to new life. God’s wrath is removed from them (along with their rebellion) so that the can see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. They are saved by grace through faith. God may discipline them but this isn’t His punishing wrath. I believe God predestines the first-fruits. The second-fruits receive mercy as do the first-fruits just not in the same way. The second fruits are punished and purified as they are baptized in the lake of fire. The first will be last and the last will be first but we will all make it. It makes sense to me anyway and is consistent with the scriptures. It’s the view I may come to. We’ll see.

sounds like you’re on the right track !..Praise God !

[St_Michael]

Thank you Neil.