Scan barcode
Reviews
God's Final Victory: A Comparative Philosophical Case for Universalism by Eric Reitan, John Kronen
davehershey's review
5.0
If you are looking for a systematic, philosophical argument in favor of Christian Universalism, this book is for you. Kronen and Reitan are not going for style points in their writing, they are going for philosophical precision. Thus this book is filled with bullet-pointed arguments followed by defenses of the points most often attacked. What results is one of the best defenses that a loving God will save all people in the end (God’s final victory!).
I would say from the start this is not the book to start with when you are investigating Christian Universalism. The exception would be if you are a professional philosopher, then maybe this book is for you. The authors do not have the flair of David Bentley Hart nor the pastoral care of Al Kimel. Neither do they dig deeply into the relevant scriptures such as Robin Parry, Brad Jersak or others. They build a tight case, point by point.
That said, they do begin with a look at scripture. Their argument is that once we recognize scripture is not obvious, we move on the philosophical case. To be clear, they are not ceding the biblical case to those in favor of infernalism. The biblical case is on the side of the universalist as well. What Kronen and Reitan do is respond to those who say the scripture is clear and in support of infernalism. To make the case they want to make, they simply need to show Christian Universalism has at least as good a case from scripture as Infernalism.
The rest of the book argues against both the Classic View and Liberal View of hell. At first glance, these terms may be misleading. The Classic View is the idea that God sends people to hell and actively punishes them, with the saved looking on and worshiping God for it. This view was the major one through church history, yet is distasteful even to many conservative evangelicals today. Thus, the Liberal View holds that humans freely choose against God and God leaves them to their choices. Though, as a sidenote, the main argument in favor of this is usually a CS Lewis quote and not any scripture.
I won’t go into all the details of the argument. The one that stuck out most was responding to the free will argument for hell. I have heard SO MANY TIMES the argument that “well, God respects our free choices.” Kronen and Reitan show why this is a nonsensical response.
Overall, this is highly recommended if you want to continue studying universalism. I rated it five stars for the substance of the argument. I usually reserve five stars for books I enjoy (Stephen King, Brandon Sanderson) or books that change my life (such as some by Hart and Jersak above). This one gets five stars simply for the depth of argument. At times it was difficult to get through. But its worth it.
I would say from the start this is not the book to start with when you are investigating Christian Universalism. The exception would be if you are a professional philosopher, then maybe this book is for you. The authors do not have the flair of David Bentley Hart nor the pastoral care of Al Kimel. Neither do they dig deeply into the relevant scriptures such as Robin Parry, Brad Jersak or others. They build a tight case, point by point.
That said, they do begin with a look at scripture. Their argument is that once we recognize scripture is not obvious, we move on the philosophical case. To be clear, they are not ceding the biblical case to those in favor of infernalism. The biblical case is on the side of the universalist as well. What Kronen and Reitan do is respond to those who say the scripture is clear and in support of infernalism. To make the case they want to make, they simply need to show Christian Universalism has at least as good a case from scripture as Infernalism.
The rest of the book argues against both the Classic View and Liberal View of hell. At first glance, these terms may be misleading. The Classic View is the idea that God sends people to hell and actively punishes them, with the saved looking on and worshiping God for it. This view was the major one through church history, yet is distasteful even to many conservative evangelicals today. Thus, the Liberal View holds that humans freely choose against God and God leaves them to their choices. Though, as a sidenote, the main argument in favor of this is usually a CS Lewis quote and not any scripture.
I won’t go into all the details of the argument. The one that stuck out most was responding to the free will argument for hell. I have heard SO MANY TIMES the argument that “well, God respects our free choices.” Kronen and Reitan show why this is a nonsensical response.
Overall, this is highly recommended if you want to continue studying universalism. I rated it five stars for the substance of the argument. I usually reserve five stars for books I enjoy (Stephen King, Brandon Sanderson) or books that change my life (such as some by Hart and Jersak above). This one gets five stars simply for the depth of argument. At times it was difficult to get through. But its worth it.
More...