An online friend recently asked how I came to my current position on Universal Reconciliation. I’ve cleaned up my response a bit & shared here for anyone who’s interested.
Coming to my current position been a long process – it wasn’t something I came to hastily or on a whim. I still hesitate to describe myself as a “Universalist”, even though that’s the hermeneutic I currently find has the best explanatory power.
To start, I distinctly remember asking my pastor questions in grade school along the lines of, “How did Jesus pay an infinite debt in 3 days?” & “If hell is outside of time, is Jesus still in hell?” There’s obvious issues with these questions, but that’s where my head was at. My dad & I listened to quite a bit of Ravi Zacharias & other apologists while I was growing up, & he’s always prompted big questions & good conversations.
My pastor was & is a 5-Point Calvinist, so I heard many messages on the “Doctrines of Grace”, the Westminster Confession of Faith, & other staples of the Reformed side of the faith. Granted, this was all from a non-denominational perspective, so more along the lines of Reformed Baptists like John Piper & MacArthur than true/full Calvinists like Presbyterians (who would hold to things like paedobaptism & the genuine presence of Christ in Communion).
I graduated college, got married, & started working (a desk job) in 2017 – there were plenty of reason to get more serious about my faith, & time to listen to podcasts, audiobooks, the Bible, etc. Not to say I wasn’t serious before, I just went deeper. I found the Bible Project pretty early & that opened up a whole new world for me. I started (slowly) learning the Biblical languages, looking at the literary structure of the Bible, & seeing the “big picture” – all things that rattled me, in a good way.
Their “Spiritual Beings” series directed me to Michael Heiser, so I started listening to his Naked Bible Podcast (I wanted to know what he thought before picking up The Unseen Realm…). That’s what really opened up the possibilities for me, theological position-wise, even though not many of my positions changed in actuality at the time. It was simply seeing how many Protestant denominations still hold to “tradition”, just of a different type than Catholics (I recommend Scot McKnight’s The Blue Parakeet). Everyone has theological lenses, & philosophy of religion is taking off those glasses & looking at the lenses themselves. Heiser had a series of articles on the doctrine of Original Sin (as commonly understood), along with some other comments going against Reformed theology, both on his podcast & in The Unseen Realm.
At some point I came across Jesse Morrell’s Beyond Augustine documentary (I’m not sure I agree with a good bit of his other stuff, but it was part of how I got here. I’m still looking into Open Theism.). Rob Rowe of Sentinel Apologetics also recommended David Pawson, & I came across his De-Greeceing the Church talk. Again, I wouldn’t agree with everything he says, but I do have a feeling there’s a bit too much Greek philosophy in the church.
The Bible Project didn’t say it explicitly at the time, but I was seeing some clear nonviolent teaching throughout the Bible. I wanted some answers to Old Testament violence & other issues & came across Preston Sprinkle’s work. He’s pretty well-known for his work on nonviolence, hell, & sexuality. Going further, I came across The Fourth Way podcast. Derek’s series on Consequentialism sealed the deal on Christian nonviolence for me. Very formative for my ideas on coercion, among other things. The Bible Project also had their Character of God series, most of which was spent on God’s wrath, because it’s so commonly misunderstood.
I mentioned Preston Sprinkle – I believe he’s still an Annihilationist – he also wrote the intro & conclusion to the 2nd Edition of Four Views on Hell. Robin Parry wrote the section on Universalism, & Sprinkle in the conclusion had very positive things to say about it, though he wasn’t convinced. I hadn’t read the book at the time, I just remember him bringing it up on his podcast.
I then came across Leighton Flowers, who offered a very convincing alternative definition for “the Elect” (focused on Christ being the Elect & us being placed in Him), which led me to Warren McGrew’s Penal Substitutionary Atonement series with Paul Vendredi. That was really the turning point for me regarding Reformed doctrine – the origin, progression, & current state of the belief system all have clear flaws. I keep bringing up this book in conversation, but Scot McKnight’s book Reading Romans Backwards is a must-read. Him putting Romans 9 back into its context of the Romans 9-11 arc makes the Calvinist interpretation almost nonsensical – Paul’s line of questioning is regarding how God can be seen as just when He has made promises to a people who are unrighteous & seem to have been rejected by Him; it doesn’t end with “Who are you, oh Man, to answer back to God?”. (Along those lines, check out J. Richard Middleton’s book Abraham’s Silence.) David Bentley Hart also references this arc in the book mentioned below, which further solidified my views.
Paul Vendredi, being Orthodox, used quite a few quotes from Church Fathers, especially the Cappadocians (St. Gregory of Nyssa being one of them), so I started reading & listening to them. I also came across Robin Parry’s “Whistle-Stop Introduction” to Universal Salvation. When I saw he had strong biblical support & not just emotional appeals (which was one of the main criticisms I heard about Universalists from my camp), I finally started looking specifically into Universalism. This was about a year to a year-&-a-half ago.
I have collected many resources during this time, but my main recommendations are below:
The Inescapable Love of God by Thomas Talbott – This is my first recommendation for a reason. Anyone who is interested in the topic should read this first.
That All Shall Be Saved by David Bentley Hart – Hart presents very strong philosophical arguments, but his tone isn’t going to win over anyone who doesn’t already hold to his position…
Once Loved, Always Loved by Andrew Hronich – I’m still working through this one, but it collects a lot of other authors’ ideas & presents them along with his own. His 2-part defense of Universalism (Biblical, then philosophical) on Capturing Christianity is very well done.
Unspoken Sermons by George MacDonald – MacDonald’s descriptions of God’s mercy & justice are like no one else I’ve read. My favorite chapters were “Consuming Fire” & “Justice”. You can read this work here, or listen here.
My main focus has always been Biblical arguments, & in my opinion Universalism has far more explanatory power for difficult verses than Eternal Conscious Torment or Annihilationism, & fits with the rest of the Biblical story (instead of just proof-texting an ending that is discordant). Thomas Talbott’s Trilemma is an excellent proposition that points out how everyone rejects certain premises that are “clear from Scripture” – what’s important is how well a view explains the verses that “don’t fit”. Perhaps I’ll write up my own arguments for Universalism, now that I’ve presented the path I took to get here.
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