I finished reading “All Shall Be Well” by Robin Parry & others. I found it really encouraging to hear the journeys of other universalists and also interesting to see some of the different approaches that can be taken to some of the questions put to universalists.
Here are some very brief comments (I’ve listed ever chapter to help jog memories) because as I read it bit by bit over the last 10 months, some bits are now hard to remember:
]I though the introduction: Between Heresy and Dogma—Gregory MacDonald (Robin Parry) was excellent and I’d recommend everyone read it (see “All Shall Be Well”)/]
]I enjoyed discovering that Origen wasn’t as dodgy as some people have made him out to be./]
]I can strongly relate to Gregory of Nyssa’s Christocentric Universalism./]
]I always feel uncomfortable with Mystics, but I like Julian’s statement that “All Shall Be Well”./]
]Love is all and God is Love: Universalism in Peter Sterry (1613–1672) and Jeremiah White (1630–1707)—Louise Hickman /]
]Union with Christ: The Calvinist Universalism of James Relly (1722–1778)—Wayne K. Clymer /]
]Between Calvinism and Arminianism: The Evangelical Universalism of Elhanan Winchester (1751–1797)—Robin Parry /]
]Salvation-in-Community: The Tentative Universalism of Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768–1834)—Murray Rae /]
]Postmortem Education: Universal Salvation in Thomas Erskine (1788–1870)—Don Horrocks /]
]The Just Mercy of God: Universal Salvation in George MacDonald (1824–1905)—Thomas Talbott /]
]The Final Sanity is Complete Sanctity: Universal Holiness in the Soteriology of P. T. Forsyth (1848–1921)—Jason Goroncy /]
]The Judgment of Love: The Ontological Universalism of Sergius Bulgakov (1871–1944)—Paul Gavrilyuk /]
]I do teach it, but I also do not teach it: The Universalism of Karl Barth (1886–1968)—Oliver Crisp /]
]The Totality of Condemnation Fell on Christ: Universal Salvation in Jaques Ellul (1912–1994)—Andrew Goddard /]
]I’m not sure what make of J. A. T. Robinson, I think his approach is quite different to mine./]
]I thought Hans Urs von Balthasar’s thoughts on Christ’s Descent into Hell were interesting, certainly not something I’d really thought about in depth before./]
]I was very disappointed to read about John Hick’s slide away from Christianity, and not just because he gives Christian Universalism a bad name. However, I agree with the author of the chapter, Lindsay Hall, that his belief in universalism wasn’t the cause./]
*]I was very impressed by Jürgen Moltmann’s well thought out & articulated universalism, and his insights into freedom. Also his comments on the Trinity reminded me of Jason 
, Moltmann"]It is because he loves the Son that [the Father] becomes the Creator. His self-communicating love for the one like himself * opens itself to the Other * and becomes creative, which means anticipating every possible response. Because he creates the world by virtue of his eternal love for the Son, the world is, through his eternal will, destined for good, just as God is himself goodness. That is why God has pleasure in it. That is why he can expect his image, man, to respond to his creative love, so that he may not only enjoy bliss with his Son, in eternity, but may also find blessin man, in time./]
Anyway, what do others think of the book?*
But I figure I’ll hear about it again after release. Hopefully it’ll be more sober and careful than Hanson was.)
I have sooo many unfinished books. It’s waaay too easy to buy new books this way. Amazon should give away the Kindle. It would probably more than triple their sales if they did.