Nathan Dow George book

[fortytworc]

An examination of Universalism: embracing its rise and progress, and the means of its propagation
Nathan Dow George›

I just finished this rebuttal of Universalism and was wondering what you might have to say about it. He seems to make a pretty good case for the opposite of what we have been told of the early church fathers.I look forward to your response.
Thank you.

[JasonPratt]

Fortyworc is talking about this book, James.

books.google.com/books/about/An_ … p9OQAACAAJ

[james.goetz]

Hi fortytworc,

Thank you for visiting. I have yet to read Nathan Dow George’s book, but I might have read some similar ideas. I have read different views of the early church fathers and I am not sure of what views George opposes.

This might help. I recently wrote a two-paragraph summary on my blog:

Augustine and his colleague Evodius said that many believers in the church asserted the reality of postmortem conversions as taught by Peter the Apostle. [3] Augustine also said that some versions of eventual salvation for lost souls in hell were an amicable controversy in the church. [4] Besides, Augustine and the later Fifth Ecumenical Council condemned Origenist versions of universal reconciliation, but they never addressed Gregory of Nyssa’s version of universal reconciliation in The Great Catechism. [5] Furthermore, Emperor Justinian in the Fifth Ecumenical Council honored Gregory of Nyssa side by side with Augustine as holy fathers of the church. Moreover, Gregory saw no conflict between his version of universal reconciliation and the Nicene Creed’s doctrine of judgment.

My Conditional Futurism supports that Peter the Apostle and John the Revelator taught about postmortem conversions. [6] For example, John’s apocalyptic imagery shows kings dying while opposing the Lord at Armageddon and eventually entering the pearly gates of the New Jerusalem. These biblical teachings by Peter and John support the doctrine that God never gives up loving pursuit of any human regardless of hell or high water. God’s endless pursuit also facilitates the eventual glorious reconciliation between all perpetrators and victims with no hardship but pleasure for the victims. This theodicy envisions the eventual glorious reconciliation of all enemies, ethnic groups, and social classes to God and each other.

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3. Augustine, “Letter 163”; “Letter 164.”
4. Augustine, City of God, 21:17.
5. Gregory of Nyssa, The Great Catechism, 26.
6. James Goetz, Conditional Futurism: New Perspectives of End-Time Prophecy, (Eugene, Oregon: Resource Publications, 2012), chapters 13—15.

theoperspectives.blogspot.com/2013/02/divine-love-problem-of-evil-and-theodicy.html

Did George object to what I wrote about Gregory of Nyssa, Augustine, Evodius, and the Fifth Ecumenical Council?