The Hope of Salvation for All in the Light of Contemporary Universalism

The arguments of contemporary universalists, who, like David B. Hart, follow Gregory of Nyssa and other Church Fathers in affirming that all human beings will be saved, are particularly powerful and open the possibility of reinterpreting the meaning and scope of traditional doctrine. They take into account the abundance and force of universalist verses in the New Testament, the difficulty of integrating damnation into the economy of salvation, the constitutive solidarity between all human beings, and the fact that if the final act leading to damnation is not carried out in all lucidity and freedom, its consequences are unjust, and if it is entirely lucid and free, it is impossible. The force of these arguments leads to a defence, not only, with Balthasar, of the possibility and the duty to hope for all, but of the extreme probability —and not the certainty— of the realisation of this hope. Finally, the pastoral stakes involved are assessed.