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 PrintableVersion Universal salvation?The current debateIncluding...?UNIVERSAL SALVATION? This book, on the theme of universalism (the notion that God will one day reconcile all people to himself through Christ), has been edited by Robin Parry, who is the commissioning editor of Paternoster Press and Chris Partridge who is Professor of Contemporary Religion at Chester College. The project is part of a wider attempt to facilitate discussion among evangelicals on the subject of universalism. There is even a website which has been created to further this discussion: www.universalsalvation.net Universalism has been advocated by many theologians over the centuries, although not normally by those who lay claim to being evangelical. In the past 200 years, for example, it has been advocated by many of those who would stand in the tradition of Liberal Theology. Recently, however, there has been something of a sea change in evangelical thinking on the 'Last Things'. Prominent evangelicals such as John Wenham have advocated conditional immortality; others, such as John Stott, have asked us to consider whether or not annihilationism might be considered biblical. Influenced by Vatican II and by Karl Rahner, others, such as Clark Pinnock, have argued for 'inclusivism', the view that many will be saved by Christ, even though they never heard his name but yet have lived according to the light which they had. Sometimes this 'inclusivist' view involves belief in a 'post-mortem' opportunity to respond to the gospel. Supporting and undergirding many of these views have been other evangelical writers, such as Philip Hughes, who argued that the immortality of the soul was not a biblical position but rather came from Greek philosophy. In the midst of developments such as these, it is no surprise to find some evangelicals advocating universalism. This book is devoted to an analysis of the universalist position advocated by one particular evangelical, Thomas Talbot. The difference between Talbot and writers in the Liberal tradition is that he firmly believes that universalism is taught by Scripture. In the first part of the book, consisting of three essays by Talbot, he outlines his case. In part two of the book there are two 'Biblical Responses'. The first is by I. Howard Marshall who robustly defends the traditional evangelical view that not everyone will be saved. The other response is from Thomas Johnson who is very sympathetic to Talbot and wants at least to allow the possibility that all will be saved. Part three of the book contains 'Philosophical Responses' by Jerry Walls, who rejects universalism, and by Eric Reitan, who generally supports it. Part four contains two 'Theological Responses', one by Daniel Strange strongly advocating the traditional Calvinist position and the other by John Sanders supporting an 'inclusivist' position. Part five of the book contains two 'Historical Responses', one by Morwenna Ludlow outlining the history of universalism; and the other by David Hilborn and Don Horrocks outlining universalist trends in the evangelical tradition. Finally, in part six, Talbot responds. This is a very interesting book and well worth reading, although I was not persuaded by Talbot's arguments. It seems to me that the biblical case presented by Howard Marshall and the theological arguments of Daniel Strange are much more persuasive. Talbot has to reinterpret too many passages, sometimes with very strained exegesis, to be convincing. Professor A.T.B. McGowan, © Evangelicals Now - October 2004 |
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