Thanks for your thoughts, Ralph! They are very thought-provoking. I have read a lot about universalism and given it considerable thought. I would absolutely love for it to be true and I can almost see how one can get there philosophically. But, at the end of the day, I can't quite get there - Scripturally, philosophically, or pragmatically (using the ever-ubiquitous appeal to the Hitler analogy: I'm not sure how I can get to a place cognitively where Hitler comes into "unity" with God).
A few years ago I read David Bentley Hart's "That All Shall Be Saved." It was entertaining and brilliant, and Hart made some very cogent points. But, among other things, it was apparent to me that, at least in his telling, universalism is an outworking of a pantheistic or panentheistic framework, which I similarly struggle with.
Thanks for your thoughts, Ralph! They are very thought-provoking. I have read a lot about universalism and given it considerable thought. I would absolutely love for it to be true and I can almost see how one can get there philosophically. But, at the end of the day, I can't quite get there - Scripturally, philosophically, or pragmatically (using the ever-ubiquitous appeal to the Hitler analogy: I'm not sure how I can get to a place cognitively where Hitler comes into "unity" with God).
A few years ago I read David Bentley Hart's "That All Shall Be Saved." It was entertaining and brilliant, and Hart made some very cogent points. But, among other things, it was apparent to me that, at least in his telling, universalism is an outworking of a pantheistic or panentheistic framework, which I similarly struggle with.