David Bentley Hart (David Bentley Hart – Wikipedia) is an American theologian who was brought up as an Episcopalian but has converted to Eastern Orthodoxy.
Universal salvation is very much a minority doctrine among religious believers, but this is the position argued for in this book.
The author puts forward his position as follows:
- The Nature of God: Hart argues that if God creates ex nihilo (out of nothing) and knows the end of all things, then a God who creates a world where even one person suffers eternal torment is not “good” in any sense humans can understand.
- Biblical Interpretation: Hart claims that the “eternal” (Greek: aionios) punishments mentioned in the New Testament refer to an “age” or “epoch” of purgatorial correction rather than an infinite duration.
- The Nature of the Person: He asserts that human identity is inherently communal. If any soul is in hell, then those in heaven (whose lives were intertwined with them) cannot be truly whole or happy.
- Freedom of the Will: Hart argues that a truly free and rational will cannot eternally reject God, because God is the very “Good” that the will is designed to seek. To reject God forever is not freedom, but a form of madness or ignorance that God will eventually heal.
David Bentley Hart appears in many videos, for example here David Bentley Hart – Imagining Eternal Life
If you’re interested to read from among the diversity of beliefs that theologians can hold, this could be the book for you. Check if this book of theology is in stock at your local library here Home | South Lanarkshire Libraries (sllclibrary.co.uk)
248 pages in Yale University Press
First published 2021
ISBN-13 : 978-0300258486
David Bentley Hart