List of Christian universalists

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, Cormac Murphy-O'Connor and Pope Francis.

Table

Name Lived Nationality Denomination Notes
Clement of Alexandria 150-215 Coptic / Greek early church Priest, instructor at the School of Alexandria.
Origen 185-254 Coptic / Greek early church Theologian, disciple of Clement.
Gregory of Nyssa 335-394 Greek early church Bishop, Cappadocian Father.
Didymus the Blind 310-398 Coptic / Greek early church Theologian, disciple of Origen.
Theodore of Mopsuestia 352-428 Greek Church of the East Bishop, hermeneuticist.
Isaac the Syrian 613-700 Syrian Church of the East Bishop, theologian.
John Scotus Eriugena 800s Irish early church Theologian, Neoplatonist, poet.
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

See also

allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Christian_Universalists