Author David Bentley Hart must be regarded. Consider how scholar John Milbank, president of the Centre of Theology and Philosophy, declares, “After Hart, we can happily throw away most of our theology books.” As for That All Shall be Saved, theologian John Behr finds it to be “a brilliant treatment…of the promise that, in the end, all will indeed be saved,” and in so affirming Hart exposes “the inadequacy…of claims to the contrary.”
In his book, Hart insists—as Wikipedia reports—“on universalism being the only true articulation of the Christian gospel.” He himself writes, “If God is the good creator of all, he must also be the saviour of all, without fail, who brings to himself all he has made…. If he is not the saviour of all, the Kingdom is only a dream.” About hell, we declares, “I certainly cannot believe what I find intrinsically unbelievable. …I have dutifully explored all the arguments for hell’s eternity…and I continue to find them manifestly absurd.”
Raised Anglican, Hart, an American philosopher, theologian, and religious studies scholar, became Eastern Orthodox when he was 21. He has authored 24 books, plus more than a thousand essays, papers, and reviews.
That All Shall be Saved: Heaven, Hell, & Universal Salvation
By David Bentley Hart
Yale University Press, 2019