David Bentley Hart. That All Shall Be Saved: Heaven, Hell and Universal Salvation (original) (raw)
Related papers
The Problem of Hell: A Thomistic Critique of David Bentley Hart's Necessitarian Universalism
Modern Theology, 2022
David Bentley Hart has recently argued that universal salvation is a metaphysically necessary outcome of God's act of creating rational beings. A crucial premise of Hart's argument is a compatibilist view of free will, according to which God can determine human choices without taking away their freedom. This view constitutes common ground between Hart and the tradition of classical Thomism, which emphasizes the non-competitive relation between human freedom and God's universal causality. Unfortunately, Thomistic compatibilism undermines the so-called Free Will Defense, which is often considered to be the only viable way of responding to contemporary criticism of the doctrine of hell. Can the existence of hell be reconciled with God's goodness given a Thomistic conception of rational freedom? This question is of interest not only to followers of Aquinas but to anyone who rejects a 'zero-sum competition' between freedom and grace, and who also believes that divine revelation confirms the possibility of perdition. The present article proposes an alternative to the Free Will Defense-called The Thomistic Autonomy Defense-which aims to block Hart's arguments for the necessity of universal salvation.
On David Hart's The Beauty of the Infinite
New Blackfriars, 2007
In "The Beauty of the Infinite," David Hart offers a persuasive case for why the beauty of God's infinity is at the heart of the Christian evangel of peace, a peace funded by our analogical participation in God's Trinitarian life. At the heart of his argument is an appropriation of Gregory of Nyssa's concept of infinity, which presupposes a "non-dialectical creation of out of nothing." He then links this understanding of infinity with what he calls the "Christian evangel of peace", which he contrasts with what he calls a "genealogy of violence" (identified with Hegel, Nietzsche, and Heidegger). His main contribution lies in his use of this understanding of God's infinity to rethink important issues in Trinitarian and Christological doctrine. Nonetheless, the question can be raised about whether his argument does justice to classically Christian understandings of the following: the presupposition, rooted in creation, of a shared human rationality, the importance of law, the centrality of the prophetic critique of idolatry and individual and corporate sin, and the place for lament in biblical depictions of Christ's death and the Christian life.
A Critique of 'That All Shall Be Saved' by David Bentley Hart
The Southern Reformed Theological Journal, 2021
David Bentley Hart's book entitled That All Shall Be Saved is a powerful argument at first glance, but upon further reflection it entails many difficulties. This paper will seek to refute its thesis by appealing to Scripture, critiquing the inner logic of Hart's argument, and by proffering an understanding of sin that willfully rejects God.
The Eternality of Hell, 2023
"Is the punishment of the wicked eternal?" is a common question. The answers to questions about hell's eternality contain weighty implications about the nature of God. Largely leaning on Charles Hodges's Systematic Theology, together with the use of computerbased language tools, this paper demonstrates that the place or condition of eternal punishment is a biblical reality.
2016
The doctrines of hell and the existence of God seem to pose a formidable paradox for both Christianity and Islam. The paradox can be stated as follows: Given that God is perfect in every sense, how can he allow any of his creatures to suffer eternal perdition? In this paper, I undertake a critical examination of the arguments for and against the doctrine of hell and conclude that on balance, arguments against the existence of hell heavily outweigh those for its existence. This calls for a radical revision of the traditional doctrine of hell. I contend that what is needed is a gentler and more sinner-friendly theology of hell that recognizes God’s mercy and infinite patience. Nevertheless, belief in hell can serve the social function of deterring potential sinners from sinning.