Universal Salvation

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

Is it possible that God might save everyone without exception? Or is it Christian belief that at least some people will be damned? This class introduces students to the history of debates about universal salvation in Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, and ancient Greco-Roman religions, with an emphasis on Roman Catholic theological approaches to the problem. Topics discussed will include the nature and extent of postmortem punishment, the paradoxes of God’s justice and mercy, and the importance of free will in debates about heaven and hell. Readings will include Origen, St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, Bl. John Duns Scotus, Bl. Julian of Norwich, George Tyrrell, Henri de Lubac, Karl Rahner, Hans Urs von Balthasar, Joseph Ratzinger, Avery Dulles, David Bentley Hart, and James Dominic Rooney (among others). This class will also include representative samples of debates about universal salvation in non-Christian religions, especially the great debate about icchantikas, the “incorrigibles” or “hopeless” beings who can never escape suffering in Yogācāra and Tathāgatagarbha Buddhism.