In the bible, Jesus Christ prays for the whole world and this includes all humanity: those who pray and those who do not yet pray. – Karl Barth (November 8, 2019)

In the Scriptures, Jesus Christ is said to pray for the whole world. But who is the 'whole world'? I found the following letter in Karl Barth Letters: 1961-1968, where Karl Barth defines the 'whole world' as 'all humans', including all those who do pray and all those who do […]

Related: Karl Barth, karl barth letters: 1961-1968, letters, Universalism, whole world

REVIEW: That All Shall Be Saved by David Bentley Hart (October 17, 2019)

David Bentley Hart's That All Shall Be Saved: Heaven, Hell & Universal Salvation (Yale University Press, 2019) is a popular new book by an outstanding Eastern Orthodox theologian on a locus that I'm passionate about—Christian Universalism! I'm pleased to say that I highly recommend it for its excellent defense of […]

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The God Who Saves: A Dogmatic Sketch by David W. Congdon (Review) (January 12, 2017)

The God Who Saves: A Dogmatic Sketch by David W. Congdon is a brilliant and well written theological book, and my favorite book published in 2016. In The God Who Saves, Congdon leverages his expertise in Bultmann's existential theology and acute knowledge of Karl Barth to produce this eye-popping dogmatic sketch of a universalist […]

Related: Aristotle, Book Review, David W. Congdon, Futurist Eschatology, Heteroorthodoxy, Karl Barth, Orthoheterodoxy, Polydox, Realized Eschatology, Review, Rudolf Bultmann, Scot McKnight, The God Who Saves, The Mission of Demythologizing: Rudolf's Bultmann's Dialectic Theology, Universalism

The Extinction of Humanity: Karl Barth’s Eschatology (November 30, 2016)

Introduction We are not guaranteed that we will die.  In a moment, in a twinkling of an eye (1 Cor 15:52), the life of every human being in the world will be supernaturally concluded by the final coming of Jesus Christ.  According to Karl Barth, this will be the final event in the […]

Related: Augustine, Augustine of Hippo, CD III/3, CD IV/3.2, CD IV/4, Christian Life, Church Dogmatics, Church Dogmatics III/3, Church Dogmatics IV/3.2, Church Dogmatics IV/4, Coming of Jesus, end times, eschatology, Extinction, Extinction of Humanity, FInal Judgment, John Calvin, Judgment, Karl Barth, Last Day, parousia, Rapture, Resurrection, Universalism

Dear Karl Barth, What does Election mean to Individuals? (August 28, 2016)

In Karl Barth's Doctrine of Election, Jesus Christ is the only elected individual, and no other individual is elected like Jesus (Act 4:12), but in him (c.f. Eph 1:4) all people are included in his election (1 Cor 15:22). Since Barth was not a Universalist, this syllogism indicates that there may be individuals […]

Related: doctrine of election, dystopian gospel, election, Hypothetical Universalism, John Calvin, Karl Barth, predestination, Universalism

Karl Barth’s Rejection of Universalism (August 18, 2016)

Since the stone-ages of Cornelius Van Til until modern times, many have claimed that Karl Barth's theology necessarily concludes universalism or else it is incoherent, as recently exemplified by Oliver Crisp's cavalier statement in his Deviant Calvinism, "that the scope of human salvation envisioned in the theology of Karl Barth either is […]

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Jesus is the Savior of Whole World: Animals, Plants and Rocks (Part 3) (June 29, 2015)

Jesus Christ is the Savior of the Whole World (1 John 2:2), but what is the Maximum Inclusion of this statement? Does this include all people, as well as animals, plants and rocks? I provided John Calvin's answer in Part One, and Karl Barth's in Part Two, and now, Jürgen […]

Related: Animals, Bruce McCormack, Ethics of Hope, God in Creation, John Calvin, Jürgen Moltmann, Karl Barth, Plants, Rocks, Sun of Righteousness Arise!, The Coming of God: Christian Eschatology, The Spirit of Life: An Universal Affirmation, Universalism, Way of Jesus

Jesus is the Savior of Whole World: Animals, Plants and Rocks (Part 1) (June 24, 2015)

"And he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world." (NRSV 1 John 2:2) Jesus is the Savior of the Whole World, but what is the maximum inclusion set of this statement? Is the "whole world" at most a […]

Related: institutes of the christian religion, John Calvin, Karl Barth, maximum inclusion, Universalism

Jürgen Moltmann on The Election of Non-Human Creation (Audio) (June 21, 2015)

Will non-human Creation be saved? Is the blessed hope of resurrection extended to non-human creation? Jürgen Moltmann believes that God has spoken a decisive Yes to not only humanity but all of Creation, such that nothing will be lost. I was able to ask the arguably greatest Theologian alive today […]

Related: 2015 Barth Conference, Animals, Jürgen Moltmann, non-human Creation, Plants, Rocks, Universalism

Jürgen Moltmann on Unfinished Summas and Natural Theology (July 15, 2014)

Unfinished Barcelona Cathedral (Sagrada) Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics is 8,000 pages and unfinished. Thomas Aquinas' great theological system, The Summa Theologica, is unfinished too. All the medieval summas are unfinished in the same way as the medieval summas are unfinished. The post-magesterial reformers of the 16th and 17th century also produced […]

Related: CD IV/3, Church Dogmatics, Church Dogmatics IV/3, Emil Brunner, Jürgen Moltmann, Karl Barth, Natural Theology, Summa Theologica, systematic theology, Thomas Aquinas, Tony Jones, Universalism