Download or read book The Evangelical Universalist written by Gregory MacDonald and published by SPCK. This book was released on 2012-11-15 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Can an orthodox Christian, committed to the historic faith of the Church and the authority of the Bible, be a universalist? Is it possible to believe that salvation is found only by grace, through faith in Christ, and yet to maintain that in the end all people will be saved? Can one believe passionately in mission if one does not think that anyone will be lost forever? Could universalism be consistent with the teachings of the Bible? In The Evangelical Universalist the author argues that the answer is ‘yes!’ to all of these questions. Weaving together philosophical, theological, and biblical considerations, he seeks to show that being a committed universalist is consistent with the central teachings of the biblical texts and of historic Christian theology.
Download or read book The Universal Christ written by Richard Rohr and published by Convergent Books. This book was released on 2019-03-05 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From one of the world’s most influential spiritual thinkers, a long-awaited book exploring what it means that Jesus was called “Christ,” and how this forgotten truth can restore hope and meaning to our lives. “Anyone who strives to put their faith into action will find encouragement and inspiration in the pages of this book.”—Melinda Gates In his decades as a globally recognized teacher, Richard Rohr has helped millions realize what is at stake in matters of faith and spirituality. Yet Rohr has never written on the most perennially talked about topic in Christianity: Jesus. Most know who Jesus was, but who was Christ? Is the word simply Jesus’s last name? Too often, Rohr writes, our understandings have been limited by culture, religious debate, and the human tendency to put ourselves at the center. Drawing on scripture, history, and spiritual practice, Rohr articulates a transformative view of Jesus Christ as a portrait of God’s constant, unfolding work in the world. “God loves things by becoming them,” he writes, and Jesus’s life was meant to declare that humanity has never been separate from God—except by its own negative choice. When we recover this fundamental truth, faith becomes less about proving Jesus was God, and more about learning to recognize the Creator’s presence all around us, and in everyone we meet. Thought-provoking, practical, and full of deep hope and vision, The Universal Christ is a landmark book from one of our most beloved spiritual writers, and an invitation to contemplate how God liberates and loves all that is.
Download or read book Barth Origen and Universal Salvation written by Tom Greggs and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2009-05-14 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Barth, Origen, and Universal Salvation offers a bold new presentation of universal salvation. Building constructively from the third- century theologian, Origen, and the twentieth-century Swiss theologian, Karl Barth, Tom Greggs offers a defence of universalism as rooted in Christian theology, showing this belief does not have to be at the expense of human particularity, freedom, and Christian faith. Examining Barth's doctrine of election and Origen's understanding of apokatastasis, Greggs proposes that a proper understanding of the eternal salvific plan of God in the person of Jesus Christ points towards universal salvation. The relationship between the work of the Spirit and the Son in salvation is central to this understanding. Universal salvation is grounded in the person of Christ as himself historic and particular, and the Spirit makes the reality of that universal work of Christ present to individuals and communities in the present. The discussion includes creative suggestions for the political and ecclesial implications of such a presentation of salvation.
Download or read book All Shall be Well written by Gregory MacDonald and published by James Clarke & Company. This book was released on 2011-08-25 with total page 454 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Universalism runs like a slender thread through the history of Christian theology. Over the centuries Christian universalism, in one form or another, has been reinvented time and time again. In this book an international team of scholars explore thediverse universalisms of Christian thinkers from the Origen to Moltmann. In the introduction Gregory MacDonald argues that theologies of universal salvation occupy a space between heresy and dogma. Therefore disagreements about whether all will be saved should not be thought of as debates between the orthodox and heretics but rather as in-house debates between Christians. The studies in this collection aim, in the first instance, to hear, understand, and explain the eschatological claims of a range of Christians from the third to the twenty-first centuries. They also offer some constructive, critical engagement with those claims.
Download or read book A Larger Hope Volume 1 written by Ilaria L. E. Ramelli and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2019-07-15 with total page 315 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the minds of some, universal salvation is a heretical idea that was imported into Christianity from pagan philosophies by Origen (c.185–253/4). Ilaria Ramelli argues that this picture is completely mistaken. She maintains that Christian theologians were the first people to proclaim that all will be saved and that their reasons for doing so were rooted in their faith in Christ. She demonstrates that, in fact, the idea of the final restoration of all creation (apokatastasis) was grounded upon the teachings of the Bible and the church’s beliefs about Jesus’ total triumph over sin, death, and evil through his incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. Ramelli traces the Christian roots of Origen’s teaching on apokatastasis. She argues that he was drawing on texts from Scripture and from various Christians who preceded him, theologians such as Bardaisan, Irenaeus, and Clement. She outlines Origen’s often-misunderstood theology in some detail and then follows the legacy of his Christian universalism through the centuries that followed. We are treated to explorations of Origenian universal salvation in a host of Christian disciples, including Athanasius, Didymus the Blind, the Cappadocian fathers, Evagrius, Maximus the Confessor, John Scotus Eriugena, and Julian of Norwich.
Download or read book If Grace Is True written by Philip Gulley and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-03-17 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why Everyone Will Be in Heaven Two pastors present their controversial belief in eternal salvation for all through God's perfect grace. Long disturbed by the church's struggle between offering both love and rejection, they discover what God wants from us and for us: grace for everyone.
Download or read book Universal Salvation written by Morwenna Ludlow and published by Oxford University Press on Demand. This book was released on 2000-12-07 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For nearly two thousand years Paul's suggestion at the end of 1 Corinthians 15 that God will be 'all in all' has appealed to those who hold a 'wider hope' that eventually no person will be lost from God's love. Clearly, such hope for universal salvation is at variance with most Christian tradition, which has emphasized the possibility, or certainty, of eternal hell. However, a minority of Christian thinkers have advocated the idea and it has provoked much debate in the course of the twentieth century. Responding to this interest, Morwenna Ludlow compares and assesses the arguments for universal salvation by Gregory of Nyssa and Karl Rahner - two influential theologians from very different eras who are less well known for their eschatological views. In this book Dr Ludlow gives an assessment of early Christian eschatology and its effect on modern theology by examining some fundamental questions. Does universal salvation constitute a 'second tradition' of eschatology and how has that tradition developed? What can we learn from Patristic writers such as Gregory of Nyssa? How does one approach Christian eschatology in a modern context?
Download or read book Universal Salvation in Late Antiquity written by Michael Bland Simmons and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2015 with total page 537 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new study of Porphyrian soteriology, or the concept of the salvation of the soul, in the thought of Porphyry of Tyre
Download or read book Dare We Hope 2nd Edition written by Hans Urs von Balthasar and published by Ignatius Press. This book was released on 2014-11-20 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is perhaps one of the most misunderstood works of Catholic theology of our time. Critics contend that von Balthasar espouses universalism, the idea that all men will certainly be saved. Yet, as von Balthasar insists, damnation is a real possibility for anyone. Indeed, he explores the nature of damnation with sobering clarity. At the same time, he contends that a deep understanding of God’s merciful love and human freedom, and a careful reading of the Catholic tradition, point to the possibility—not the certainty—that, in the end, all men will accept the salvation Christ won for all. For this all-embracing salvation, von Balthasar says, we may dare hope, we must pray and with God’s help we must work. The Catholic Church’s teaching on hell has been generally neglected by theologians, with the notable exception of von Balthasar. He grounds his reflections clearly in Sacred Scripture and Catholic teaching. While the Church asserts that certain individuals are in heaven (the saints), she never declares a specific individual to be in hell. In fact, the Church hopes that in their final moments of life, even the greatest sinners would have repented of their terrible sins, and be saved. Sacred Scripture states, “God ... desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all” (1 Tim 2:4–5).
Download or read book Grace Saves All written by David Artman and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2020-04-17 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Grace is amazing. About this all Christians agree. Yet nearly all forms of Christianity put significant limits on grace. Those forms of Christianity which proclaim grace alone actually saves typically don’t believe God gives grace to everyone; while those forms of Christianity which proclaim God gives grace to everyone typically don’t believe grace alone actually saves. Must grace either be that which saves alone but doesn’t go to all, or that which goes to all but doesn’t save alone? In Grace Saves All, David Artman argues that grace saves alone and goes to all. This inclusive approach to Christianity is variously called universal reconciliation, universal salvation, or perhaps most accurately, Christian universalism. He contends that the inclusive/Christian universalist approach is necessary because it offers the only Christian theology which successfully defends the goodness of God. For it logically follows that if God is all-good, all-knowing, and all-powerful, then God must also be all-saving. Often dismissed as a modern feel-good theology, Christian universalism is an ancient, orthodox, and biblical theology which was expounded by early Christians and early church fathers. Artman brings much deserved attention to this wonderful spirituality.
Download or read book Universal Salvation written by Robin A. Parry and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 2004-03-25 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Foreword by Gabriel Fackre Will God one day save all people through Christ s atoning work? That is the question at the heart of the debate in this volume — a debate sure to challenge readers, whatever their current perspective. Featuring evangelical writers of exceptional insight and sensitivity, Universal Salvation? offers a conversation worth everyone s attention. The volume opens with a rigorous three-part defense of Christian universalism by philosopher Thomas Talbott, who argues that Scripture teaches the ultimate salvation of all people, including those in hell. Gabriel Fackre in his foreword calls Talbott s work the most thoughtfully wrought argument for universalism to date from within the contemporary evangelical community. The rest of the book gathers incisive responses to Talbott by Christian scholars from different disciplines, who evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of Talbott s arguments, take his thought in new directions, or explain why they think he is mistaken. Talbott then responds to his critics. The aim of this volume is not to persuade people that universalism is true but to open up a fairer debate on a controversial subject of continuing importance to theologians and nontheologians alike. By exploring universal salvation from biblical, philosophical, theological, and historical perspectives, the book helps readers think through the issues more carefully than has been possible with resources previously available.
Download or read book Creation and the Cross written by Johnson, Elizabeth A. and published by Orbis Books. This book was released on 2018-02-22 with total page 203 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Salvation for All written by Gerald O'Collins and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2008-03-21 with total page 293 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines in depth and at length what the Old Testament and the New Testament hold about the salvation of God's 'other peoples'. The Bible repeatedly witnesses to the universal scope of the divine love for all human beings and the chances of salvation that are available to them. Since the Israelites experienced for many centuries, both at home and abroad, the religion and culture of numerous other peoples, the Old Testament texts have much to say, both positively and negatively, about the religious prospects and destiny of these peoples. In its second half this book scrutinizes what Jesus, the evangelists, Paul and the Letter to the Hebrews indicate about God's loving designs for all human beings. At the end, the book breaks new ground by developing the universal presence of the risen Jesus (along with the Holy Spirit) and his role as universal Wisdom, and the full teaching of the Letter to the Hebrews on the possibility of faith for all people.
Download or read book The Devil s Redemption 2 Volumes written by Michael J. McClymond and published by Baker Academic. This book was released on 2018-06-05 with total page 1337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 2018 Book Award Winner, The Gospel Coalition (Academic Theology) A Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 2019 Will all evil finally turn to good, or does some evil remain stubbornly opposed to God and God's goodness? Will even the devil be redeemed? Addressing a theological issue of perennial interest, this comprehensive book (in two volumes) surveys the history of Christian universalism from the second to the twenty-first century and offers an interpretation of how and why universalist belief arose. The author explores what the church has taught about universal salvation and hell and critiques universalism from a biblical, philosophical, and theological standpoint. He shows that the effort to extend grace to everyone undermines the principle of grace for anyone.
Download or read book Rethinking Hell written by Christopher M. Date and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2014-04-15 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most evangelical Christians believe that those people who are not saved before they die will be punished in hell forever. But is this what the Bible truly teaches? Do Christians need to rethink their understanding of hell? In the late twentieth century, a growing number of evangelical theologians, biblical scholars, and philosophers began to reject the traditional doctrine of eternal conscious torment in hell in favor of a minority theological perspective called conditional immortality. This view contends that the unsaved are resurrected to face divine judgment, just as Christians have always believed, but due to the fact that immortality is only given to those who are in Christ, the unsaved do not exist forever in hell. Instead, they face the punishment of the "second death"--an end to their conscious existence. This volume brings together excerpts from a variety of well-respected evangelical thinkers, including John Stott, John Wenham, and E. Earl Ellis, as they articulate the biblical, theological, and philosophical arguments for conditionalism. These readings will give thoughtful Christians strong evidence that there are indeed compelling reasons for rethinking hell.
Download or read book The Inescapable Love of God written by Thomas Talbott and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2014-11-17 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Will the love of God save us all? In this book Thomas Talbott seeks to expose the extent to which the Western theological tradition has managed to twist the New Testament message of love, forgiveness, and hope into a message of fear and guilt. According to the New Testament proclamation, he argues, God's love is both unconditional in its nature and unlimited in its scope; hence, no one need fear, for example, that God's love might suddenly turn into loveless hatred at the moment of one's physical death. For God's love remains the same yesterday, today, and forever. But neither should one ignore the New Testament theme of divine judgment, which Talbott thinks the Western theological tradition has misunderstood entirely. He argues in particular that certain patterns of fallacious reasoning, which crop up repeatedly in the works of various theologians and Bible scholars, have prevented many from appreciating St. Paul's explicit teaching that God is merciful to all in the end. This second edition of Talbott's classic work is fully revised, updated, and substantially expanded with new material. ALSO AVAILABLE IN AUDIO FORMAT The Inescapable Love of God is also available as an unabridged audiobook wonderfully narrated by the actor George W. Sarris (running time: 11 hours and 2 minutes). The audiobook can be downloaded from christianaudio.com and Audible.
Download or read book Terms for Eternity written by Ilaria Ramelli and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is truly timeless? This book explores two ancient Greek terms for eternity, aionios and aidios. It traces these terms from their earliest occurrence in Pre-Socratic philosophy and Plato and through their interaction with Jewish thought and down into the patristic fathers, where they play a crucial role in debates over eternal punishment vs. universal salvation."
