Yeah, great idea, Pog
Yeah Prof, I’ve heard people question some of the names on Tentmaker’s list of universalists, saying that some of those names don’t really fit, and were kind of shoehorned in there, and there may be some truth to that.
I do think that everyone on the list was at the very least open to or would have been sympathetic with universalism though.
I’m sure even Samuel Johnson cried out for it in his heart (I know I did when I was in his place), even if he never embraced it or even studied it.
No doubt there are the best of intentions behind the making of that list, but then they may not have a scholar on hand like yourself to give it more weight.
Perhaps you could chime in over there, and offer your assistance in putting a better more concise list together?
And if nothing else, maybe you could help Pog out, and make sure nobody gets shoehorned in the wrong category.
As for my two cents, just to add a couple people that aren’t on the Tentmaker list, there’s some of my favorite authors, including Philip Yancey, who may possibly fall into one of the latter three categories (my friend Charles Slagle heard that Yancey’s pastor [not sure if its his current one] is a universalist, so that may mean Yancey is at least open to other possibilities than ECT), Frederick Buechner (whose writing is very universalistic, not to mention gracious and eloquent, in its approach, and who even mused once that perhaps ‘Old Scratch’, aka Satan, may be redeemed someday… definitely not something an infernalist would say ), Brennan Manning (who claims not to be a universalist much like N.T. Wright, but whose writings certainly sound universalist and point strongly in that direction), and Donald Miller (who doesn’t really talk about hell in any of his writing, as far as I can recall, but by the nature of his writing doesn’t sound at all like an infernalist, and would probably fall into one of the two latter categories, at the very least).
Also William Paul Young, author of The Shack, is definitely a hopeful universalist, if not a convinced one. Not sure if he’s on the Tentmaker’s list or not, but he’d be a good one to add.
And while I’m at it, mi’aswell throw in one of The Shack’s co-authors, Wayne Jacobsen, who is an annihilationist… and speaking of annihilationist, mi’aswell throw Greg Boyd in there too (I remember Jason is a fan of his ).
If I can think of any others, I’d let you know.