The Devil's Redemption (2 Vols.)
Overview
Will all people eventually be saved? Will all evil finally turn to good, or does some evil remain fully and stubbornly opposed to God and God's goodness? Will even the devil be redeemed?
The question of the devil's final salvation has been continuously debated since the time of Origen. This comprehensive book surveys the history of Christian universalism from the second to the twenty-first century and offers an interpretation of how and why universalist belief arose. Michael McClymond explores what the church has taught about universal salvation and hell and offers a critique of universalism from a biblical, philosophical, and theological standpoint. He shows that the effort to extend grace to everyone undermines the principle of grace for anyone.
Key Features
- Presents a history of univeralism that is comprehensive in scope
- Includes extensive, detailed appendices
- Thoughtfully argued and compellingly written
Contents
- Volume 1
- Final Salvation: Church Teachings and Newer Views
- Ancient Afterlives: The Gnostic, Kabbalist, and Esoteric Roots of Christian Universalism
- “The End Is Like the Beginning”: Origen and Origenism, 200-410 CE
- “That God May Be All in All”: Origen and Origenism, 410-1700 CE
- “In Yes and No All Things Consist”: The Theosophic World of Jakob Böhme and the Böhmists of Germany, England, America, France, and Russia
- A House Divided: The Rise and Fall of the Anglo-American Universalists
- Volume 2
- German Thinkers: Kant and Müller, Schleiermacher and Hegel, Schelling and Tillich
- Russian Thinkers: Solovyov, Berdyaev, Florovsky, and Bulgakov
- Debating Universal Election: Karl Barth, Barth's Interpreters, Jürgen Moltmann, and the Post-1970s Kenotic-Relational Theologies
- Embracing Universal Hope: Karl Rahner, Hans Urs von Balthasar, and the Inclusivist, Plurocentrist, and Universalist Turns in Roman Catholicism
- New Theologies in the New Millennium: The Variety of Contemporary Universalisms
- The Eclipse of Grace: An Appraisal of Christian Universalism
- Appendices
- Gnosis and Western Esotericism: Definitions and Lineages
- Zoroastrian Eschatology
- Anti-Origenist Declarations in the Early Church: From Alexandria, Jerusalem, Rome, and Constantinople
- Ramelli's The Christian Doctrine of Apokatastasis (2013)
- The Sefiroth: A Kabbalistic Diagram
- Universal Salvation in Islamic Teaching Islamic Eschatology and Qur'anic Teaching
- Types of Christian Universalism
- The Cosmic Saga: An Esoteric View
- Ultra-Dispensational Universalism
- Words and Concepts for Time and Eternity
- Mormon Teachings on God, Cosmos, and Salvation
- Barth and Bultmann on Romans 5
Top Highlights
“The issue of final salvation for all, or final salvation for some, does not stand alone but is intertwined with virtually everything that Christianity has to say about God’s love and justice, human nature, sin, freedom, Jesus’s life, Jesus’s death on the cross, Jesus’s resurrection, the Holy Spirit, the nature of the church, and Jesus’s return. For the same reason, a Christian affirmation of final, universal inclusion will affect everything else that one might say about God, humanity, Christ, sin, grace, salvation, and the church. The interconnectedness of these doctrines will become apparent in the following chapters. How much, theologically speaking, is at stake in the debate on universalism? The answer is: everything.” (Pages xxiii–xxiv)
“The origin of evil, in esoteric thought, does not lie in human choice, as intimated in the biblical narrative of Adam and Eve’s disobedience in the garden of Eden. Instead, evil is generally thought to originate within God or else within a spiritual or cosmic sphere that is not divine per se but is closely linked to God. Esoteric readings of Scripture tend toward symbolism and allegory rather than literal interpretation of the texts. This is one of the most common divergences between exoteric and esoteric Christian theologies.” (Page 12)
“Why do some Christians believe in universal salvation?” (Page 1)
“In Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers (2005), Christian Smith offers an analysis of adolescents in the United States, whose dominant religion he refers to as ‘moralistic therapeutic deism.’ The ground rules of this unofficial national faith are to be good to others, not to do stupid stuff, and to take care of oneself and others. Despite the adoption of Christian ethical principles such as unconditional love and concern for those in need, moralistic therapeutic deism is not by any stretch to be identified as Christianity.” (Pages 18–19)
Praise for the Print Edition
The Devil's Redemption is an ambitious, wide-ranging theology of universalism in the Western tradition and its analogues elsewhere. The impressive scope of the work is supported by rigorous analysis and interpretation and aided by clarity of style and presentation. McClymond gathers many different intellectual strands across time and space and weaves them into a coherent statement about the nature and scope of evil and redemption. Without question, the book will establish itself as a standard work of scholarship in the field, and for that McClymond deserves the gratitude of the guild.
—Lamin Sanneh, D. Willis James Professor of Missions and World Christianity, Yale Divinity School, and professor of history and professor of international and area studies, Yale University
More and more evangelicals seem to be willing to consider the possibility that, because God is love, each and every person who has ever lived will eventually be saved. What are we to make of this soteriological mission creep? McClymond's magisterial study provides both a thorough historical investigation of the ancient and modern roots of Christian universalism and a thoughtful theological evaluation of their presuppositions, claims, and consequences. He shows that what on the surface appears to be not simply good but the best news—if universal salvation is indeed better than the traditional good news of salvation in Christ for those who have faith--on closer analysis ends up undermining the logic of the biblical gospel and of Christian orthodoxy. It turns out that grace that is necessary is no longer grace, but that to which creatures are entitled. Important issues require important books, and McClymond has produced what I suspect will be the definitive treatment of Christian universalism for years to come.
—Kevin J. Vanhoozer, research professor of systematic theology, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
A timely and fascinating book on a crucial topic that probably only an omnicompetent historical theologian like Michael McClymond could write. McClymond shows that while the notion of universal salvation has attractive features, it does not have a very encouraging spiritual or theological track record in the history of the church.
—Craig S. Keener, F. M. and Ada Thompson Professor of Biblical Studies, Asbury Theological Seminary
Product Details
- Title: The Devil's Redemption: A New History and Interpretation of Christian Universalism
- Author: Michael J. McClymond
- Publisher: Baker Academic
- Publication Date: 2018
- Pages: 1,376
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Topic: Theology