List of Christian universalists
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This is a list of writers who advocated Christian universalism—specifically, Trinitarian universalism–prior to the 1961 creation of the Unitarian Universalist Association.
Scholars Hosea Ballou (Ancient History of Universalism, 1828), John Wesley Hanson (Universalism: The Prevailing Doctrine of the Christian Church During Its First Five Hundred Years, 1899), George T. Knight (The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, 1911), and Pierre Batiffol (Catholic Encyclopedia, 1914) catalogued some early Christians—from the second through fourth centuries—as universalists, but modern scholarship questions the claim that all of these individuals were believers in universal reconciliation.[a] Some listed by those writers may have simply believed in apokatastasis in the Jewish or early Christian sense, without any expectation that all who had ever lived would be saved.
Several modern Christian theologians have been deemed "hopeful universalists" for a belief in the possibility of universal reconciliation, but did not claim it as a dogmatic fact, e.g. Karl Barth and Cormac Murphy-O'Connor.
Table
| Name | Lived | Nationality | Denomination | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [[Clement of Alexandria {{{last}}}]] | 150-215 | Coptic / Greek | early church | |
| [[Origen of Alexandria {{{last}}}]] | 185-254 | Coptic / Greek | early church | |
| [[Eusebius of Caesarea {{{last}}}]] | 260-340 | Greek | early church | |
| [[Athanasius of Alexandria {{{last}}}]] | 300-373 | Coptic / Greek | early church | Disputed |
| [[Diodore of Tarsus {{{last}}}]] | 300s-394 | Greek | early church | |
| [[Gregory of Nyssa {{{last}}}]] | 335-394 | Greek | early church | |
| [[Didymus the blind {{{last}}}]] | 310-398 | Coptic / Greek | early church | |
| [[Evagrius Ponticus {{{last}}}]] | 345-399 | Coptic / Greek | early church | |
| [[Theodore of Mopsuestia {{{last}}}]] | 352-428 | Greek | early church / assyrian church of the east | |
| [[Pseudo-Dionysius Areopagita {{{last}}}]] | 400s-500s | Greek | early church | |
| [[Maximus the confessor {{{last}}}]] | 580-662 | Greek | early church | disputed |
| [[Isaac of Niniveh {{{last}}}]] | 613-700 | Syrian | Assyrian church of the east | |
| [[John Scottus Eriugena {{{last}}}]] | 800s | Irish | early church | |
| [[Solomon of Akhlat {{{last}}}]] | 1100s-1200s | Syrian | Assyrian church of the east | |
| Richard Coppin | 1500s or 1600s–1660s | English | Anglican, later Presbyterian Ranter | Anglican clergyman. |
| William Law | 1686–April 9, 1761 | English | Anglican | Cleric. |
| Jane Leade | 1624–1704 | English | Behemenist, later Philadelphian | Mystic, founder of the Philadelphians. |
| Alexander Mack | July 27, 1679–January 18, 1735 | German | Reformed, later Brethren/German Baptist | Founder and first minister of the Brethren/German Baptists. |
| Giovanni Pico della Mirandola | February 24, 1463–November 17, 1494 | Italian | Roman Catholic | Kabbalist and philosopher. |
| John Pordage | 1607–1681 | English | Anglican, later Philadelphian | Priest and mystic. |
| Andrew Michael Ramsay | January 9, 1686–May 6, 1743 | Scottish | Roman Catholic | |
| Thomas Potter | 1689–1777 | American | Baptist, later Universalist Church of America | Universalist minister. |
| Gerrard Winstanley | 1609–September 10, 1676 | English | Digger and Quaker | |
| George MacDonald | December 10, 1824–September 19, 1905 | Scottish | Congregational | Clergyman and writer of novels. |
| Maria Cook | 1779–December 21, 1835 | American | Universalist | First woman to be recognized as a Universalist preacher. |
| Sergei Bulgakov | July 28, 1871–July 12, 1944 | Russian | Russian Orthodox | Orthodox priest and former socialist politician. |
| John Milbank | October 23, 1952–present | English | Anglican | Theology professor, founder of radical orthodoxy |
| David Bentley Hart | February 20, 1965–present | American | Episcopalian, later Greek Orthodox | Writer and Orthodox philosopher. |
Notes
- ^ For example, Frederick W. Norris in the article on apocatastasis in 2004's The Westminster Handbook to Origen writes that "As far as we can tell, therefore, Origen never decided to stress exclusive salvation or universal salvation, to the strict exclusion of either case."
References
- Ballou, Hosea (1885), The Ancient History of Universalism: From the Time of the Apostles to the Fifth General Council (4th ed.), Chicago, Illinois and Boston, Massachusetts, United States: Universalist Publishing House
- Battifol, Pierre (1907), "Apocatastasis", in Herberman, Charles G.; Pace, Edward A.; Allen, Condé; Shahan, Thomas J.; Wynne, John J. (eds.), The Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church, vol. 1, United States: The Encyclopedia Press
- Hanson, John Wesley (1899), Universalism: The Prevailing Doctrine of the Christian Church During Its First Five Hundred Years (1st ed.), Chicago, Illinois and Boston, Massachusetts, United States: Universalist Publishing House
- MacDonald, Gregory, ed. (2011), "All Shall Be Well": Explorations in Universal Salvation and Christian Theology from Origen to Moltmann (1st ed.), Eugene, Oregon, United States: Cascade Books, ISBN 978-1-60608-685-8
- Parry, Robin; Partridge, Christopher H., eds. (March 2004), Universal Salvation? The Current Debate (1st ed.), Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States and Cambridge, England, United Kingdom: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, ISBN 0-8028-2764-0