I too got mine directly from the publisher, however, I do believe it will be available on Amazon in a few weeks/months. The publisher gives good discounts on multiples too, in case anyone wanted to know
It’s looking good so far. I read the chapter on Jaques Ellul to my wife last night, the von Balthasar section this morning, and am now dipping into Moltmann.
We’ll have to ask Robin why he chose the people he did, when he gets back from his conferences in the US.
Personally, I assume that after the church condemned Origen for other things, universalism got unjustly tainted and it’s taken this long to get past that?? Anyway, being part of a remnant or minority for a little while doesn’t make it not true
Yes, the reason why the modern era is weighted is simply that there are more universalists in the modern era. Very few between 5th C and 17th C (for reasons explained in the intro). If there was ever a second volume it would include Clement and a few other old guys but most universalist theologians are post-17th C.
Robin, is there any chance of you posting the intro on the forum for the benefit of those who haven’t got your book yet? Although as it’s about 25 pages, perhaps just a few snippets?
Robin opens his introduction to All Shall Be Well with:
“At the most simple level Christian universalism is the belief that God will (or, in the case of ‘hopeful universalism’, might) redeem all people through the saving work of Christ.”
I’ve thought of myself as one of those “hopeful” universalists, but I never located the “might” where Robin does. Robin describes hopeful universalism as the belief that “God might save all” as opposed to the belief that “God will save all.” I express my doubts differently. My doubt is not that if universalism is true it might only be true for some but not all (Robin’s “hopeful universalism”). My doubt is with respect to the truth of universalism per se. In other words, I concede that it might be the case that universalism is false. It’s about being academically honest. For me the “might” qualifies the entire proposition positing UR for all and not just some. But I don’t entertain any doubt at all that if universalism is true some persons will succeed in forever rejecting God. Once one assumes the truth of UR, there is no meaningful sense in which I can express doubt regarding the salvation of any. That seems to exclude me from Robin’s “hopeful unversalist” group. But I don’t affirm my belief (in UR per se) dogmatically, which seems to exclude me from Robin’s more certain (the “God will save all”) group.