In the End of All Things is Their Beginning

Belief in an eternal hell relies upon a literal, static, reading of Genesis

For a sermon on Romans 5.12-21, I recently preached on the church’s doctrine labeled apokatastasis, popularly known as universal salvation.

You can find the sermon here.

As Al Kimel writes, “Apokatastasis is but the gospel of Christ's absolute and unconditional love sung in an eschatological key.” The response to the sermon surprised me; consequently, I’ve been rereading David Bentley Hart’s wonderful, cutting book, That All Shall Be Saved: Heaven, Hell, and Universal Salvation.

Here’s a reflection I wrote last week:

Hell for some would be Hell for all.

Hart mounts one of his arguments against eternal conscious torment on the basis of the scriptural doctrine of creatio ex nihilo.