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A few weeks ago, my Dominican brother, Father James Dominic Rooney, ended up in a now infamous (in certain theological circles) internet debate with Orthodox theologian David Bentley Hart.
Their contest? Universalism — that is, the theological idea that at the end of time God will restore all things to himself. For universalists, hell is impossible; all will be saved.
It’s not a new subject for Hart. He provocatively asks in his 2019 book whether it is possible to love a God “who has elected to create a reality in which everlasting torture is a possible final destiny for any of his creatures.” For Hart, universalism is the most consistent and worthy reconciliation of all things in the God who is really love. It’s completely incompatible, according to Hart, that the God of mercy and compassion would relegate creatures to eternal punishment, separation from him.
But for centuries, universalism has been viewed as heretical by the Church (and every other mainstream Protestant denomination, as well). Father Rooney deftly summarized the logical crux behind the Church’s argument, saying that there are only two reasons that would explain the impossibility of hell. Father Rooney writes that either “God could not do otherwise than cause human beings to love him” or “human beings could not do otherwise than love God.”
Ultimately, Father Rooney writes, the “beliefs that we are free in our choice to love God, and that God is free in his choices to love and redeem us, are central to Christianity’s story of salvation.” If we have to love God, then sin isn’t a possibility. And if God has to make us love him, then his love isn’t really free.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains, “The teaching of the Church affirms the existence of hell and its eternity” (No. 1035). For Catholics, hell and the possibility of eternal separation from God are the consequence of sin. Pope St. John Paul II puts it this way: “God is the infinitely good and merciful Father. But man, called to respond to him freely, can unfortunately choose to reject his love and forgiveness once and for all, thus separating himself forever from joyful communion with him.”
Continued below.
Hell, David Bentley Hart, and Father James Dominic Rooney
Their contest? Universalism — that is, the theological idea that at the end of time God will restore all things to himself. For universalists, hell is impossible; all will be saved.
It’s not a new subject for Hart. He provocatively asks in his 2019 book whether it is possible to love a God “who has elected to create a reality in which everlasting torture is a possible final destiny for any of his creatures.” For Hart, universalism is the most consistent and worthy reconciliation of all things in the God who is really love. It’s completely incompatible, according to Hart, that the God of mercy and compassion would relegate creatures to eternal punishment, separation from him.
But for centuries, universalism has been viewed as heretical by the Church (and every other mainstream Protestant denomination, as well). Father Rooney deftly summarized the logical crux behind the Church’s argument, saying that there are only two reasons that would explain the impossibility of hell. Father Rooney writes that either “God could not do otherwise than cause human beings to love him” or “human beings could not do otherwise than love God.”
Ultimately, Father Rooney writes, the “beliefs that we are free in our choice to love God, and that God is free in his choices to love and redeem us, are central to Christianity’s story of salvation.” If we have to love God, then sin isn’t a possibility. And if God has to make us love him, then his love isn’t really free.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains, “The teaching of the Church affirms the existence of hell and its eternity” (No. 1035). For Catholics, hell and the possibility of eternal separation from God are the consequence of sin. Pope St. John Paul II puts it this way: “God is the infinitely good and merciful Father. But man, called to respond to him freely, can unfortunately choose to reject his love and forgiveness once and for all, thus separating himself forever from joyful communion with him.”
Continued below.
Hell, David Bentley Hart, and Father James Dominic Rooney