What Is Universalism | Michael McClymond
Lecture Title - Christ Between the Thieves: The Theological and Pastoral Challenge of Christian Universalism
Time magazine, not long ago, ran a cover story 'What If There is No Hell?' that centered on Rob Bell's Love Wins. Bell's book highlights a major trend that is affecting Evangelical Churches in the US and around the world: a growing acceptance of universalism (i.e., universal salvation) as an acceptable evangelical belief. From whence does this trend arise? How and why has it taken hold? In this lecture McClymond traces this theological idea through its ancient roots and modern revival, and illuminates the fundamental theological questions that it raises, including the nature of God, human free will, the gravity of sin, and the significance of Christ's suffering. An appropriate Christian response, McClymond argues, must not settle with citing the relevant scriptures and reaffirming eternal punishment. It must include a deeper reflection on the meaning of Christ's cross and the difference between a church that preaches and practices 'costly grace' and one that preaches and practices 'cheap grace.'
Michael J. McClymond (PhD University of Chicago) is Professor of Modern Christianity at Saint Louis University. He is author of Encounters With God: An Approach to the Theology of Jonathan Edwards (Oxford University Press, 1998) and The Devil’s Redemption: A New History and Interpretation of Christian Universalism (Baker Academic, 2018).
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