Everything will be fine

Apokatastasis - Universalism

The belief in universal restoration and reconciliation. That all creation is restored means that all people are included. Because of God's love and mercy, everyone will be reconciled to God. Everyone is saved in the end.

In 1978, the Anglican professor of New Testament Christology described Richard Bauckham (1946-) the history of universalism like this:

The history of the doctrine of universal salvation (or apokatastasis) is remarkable. Until the nineteenth century, almost all Christian theologians preached that eternal torment in hell was a reality. Here and there, outside the theological sphere, there were some who believed that the wicked would finally be annihilated (in its most common form this is the doctrine of 'conditional immortality'). Even fewer advocated universal salvation, although these few included some major theologians of the early church. Eternal punishment was established in the churches' official creeds and statements. It must have seemed as indispensable a part of the universal Christian faith as the doctrines of the Trinity and the Incarnation. Since 1800, this situation has completely changed, and no traditional Christian teaching has been so widely abandoned as that of eternal punishment. Its advocates among theologians today must be fewer than ever before. The alternative interpretation of hell as annihilation seems to have prevailed even among many of the more conservative theologians.Among the less conservative, universal salvation, either as hope or as dogma, is now so widely accepted that many theologians assume it practically without counterargument.

From the history of Universalism

Alexandriawas the intellectual and cultural center in the ancient world where many different philosophical and religious schools had established themselves. Christian thinkers also established themselves here in the first centuries AD, and founded the first Christian learning center Didascalia, which was open to anyone who wanted to learn about the Christian faith.

Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-215)
Clement expresses universalist views in early Christianity. "For all things are arranged both universally and especially by the lord of the universe, with a view to the salvation of the universe. But necessary corrections are effected by the goodness of the great indulgent judge through the attendant angels, through various previous judgments, through the final judgment, and compel even those who have become too callous to repent. … So he saves everything; but some he converts by punishment, others who follow him of their own will and in accordance with His honorable dignity, so that every knee will bow to Him in heaven, on earth and under the earth (Phil. 2:10 )"

Origen of Alexandria (c 185-254)

Origen's teaching was that all things would be "restored" by God, and that God's love and patience would prevail in the end.

God's consuming fire works on good as well as evil, and destroys that which harms his children. This fire is something that everyone lights; the fuel is the individual's sin. … When the soul has accumulated a multitude of evil deeds and an abundance of sins against itself, at an appropriate time it will boil all the evils together for punishment, and be set on fire for chastisement… It is to be understood thus that God our doctor who wants to remove the defects of our souls, will use the punishment of fire. ... Our God is a 'consuming fire' in the sense we have understood the word, he enters as a 'refining fire' to purify the rational nature, which has been filled by the leadership of evil, and to set it from the other impure materials that counterfeit the soul's natural gold or silver, so to speak. Our belief is that the Word [Christ] shall prevail over the whole rational world, and change every soul to its own perfection. … For stronger than all the evil in the soul is the Word and the healing power that dwells in him; and this healing he applies, according to the will of God, to all men.

Read more about Origen here http://www.katolsk.no/biografier/historisk/origenes

St. Macrina the Younger (324-380)

Nun who established a community of sisters.

The resurrection is a restoration of human nature to its pure, pristine state.

St Gregory of Nyssa (c 335-390)

Bishop and theologian. Brother of Macrina.

God is infinite and greater than any human understanding. Spiritual growth to become more and more like God.

He preached:Annihilation of evil, restoration of all things, and a final restoration of evil men and evil spirits to a blessed union with God, so that He may be all in all, and embrace all things endowed with sense and reason.

Nestorians

Founded byNestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople (386-451)

Never preached eternal damnation.

BishopTheodoreof Mopsuestia (350-428)

He emphasized God's power to resurrect all people despite their free will to resist:
The wicked who have committed evil all their lives shall be punished until they learn that by continuing in sin they only continue in misery. And when in this way they have been led to fear God, and to look upon Him with good will, they shall enjoy His grace. For he would never say, 'till you have paid to the last penny', [Mat. 5:26] unless we can be released from suffering after suffering sufficiently for sin; nor would he have said, 'he shall be beaten with many stripes,' [Luke 12:47] and again, 'he shall be beaten with few stripes,' unless the punishment to be endured for sin ends .

In 313, Christianity became the state religion under Emperor Constantine.

Augustine (354-430) becomes a leading church father, and develops the concepts of original sin, predestination, perdition as standard fate.

Ecumenical councils (summoned by the emperors) determined the correct doctrine of the church, and condemned heresy.

Council of Nicaea 325.

Council of Constantinople in 553

Master Eckhart 1260-1328

Man's ultimate end and purpose is to love, know and be united with God who is within us.

Blessed John of Ruysbroek (1293-1381),

Man has emanated from God, and is destined to return and become one with Him again.

Catherine of Siena(1347-1380)

Johannes Tauler (1300-1361) German Dominican

All men exist through the same birth as the Son, and therefore they must all return to their origin which is God the Father.

Julian of Norwich (1342-1416)

"It is true that sin is the cause of all this suffering, but all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well. These words were said very tenderly, indicating no kind of blame."

She lived during the Black Death and the church focused on death, judgment, God's wrath and the torments of hell. She fell ill from the plague, and was close to death. Then she had visions which she later described in the book "The Revelations of Divine Love".

She met a loving God who cares about all people and promises to save everyone.

She asked why sin was not prevented, and received this loving answer from Jesus: "It was necessary that sin should come, butall will be well, all will be well and everything of all kinds will be well.”

Nikolai Berdyaev, (1874-1948) Russian politician, philosopher and theologian (Orthodox)

Archpriest Sergius Bulgakov (1871-1944), Russian Orthodox theologian, philosopher, priest, economist

Paul Evdokimov(1901-1970) Russian Orthodox theologian
Dostoevsky and the problem of evil, ecumenism

Hans Urs von Balthasar(1905-1988), Switzerland

"Dear, we hope that all men will be saved."

David Bentley Hart(1965-)
American philosopher, theologian (converted to Orthodoxy), Christian socialist and author

The book "That All Shall Be Saved: Heaven, Hell, and Universal Salvation"

He has made a new translation of NT into English - where he, among other things, discovered that in Greek there were two words for eternity - long time and eternal time. Both were translated as "aeternus" in Latin. This became decisively important for the perception of a punishment that never ends.

Robert Wild: catholic priest "A Catholic Reading Guide to Universalism" 2015 The book is dedicated to Balthasar on which he builds.

The doctrine of universal salvation has never been condemned in any official church meeting!

Universal salvation is not some secret or suspicious view that must be hidden from the crowd. Very many people do not believe in eternal punishment, or a God who could condemn a single person to such a fate.

One of the biggest obstacles to believing in Christ is the belief in hell and what it says about who God is. How many millions of people are there who down through the ages have turned away from God because of the doctrine of hell? And how many more have lost heart and hope because of the preaching that through their actions they determine their eternal destiny?

Rev Dr Robin A Parry, (1969-) theologian, universalist

"The Evangelical Universalist" (released under the pseudonym Gregory MacDonald)

It is possible to be a Christian who is committed to the historic faith of the church and the authority of the Bible, to be universalist.

- Is it possible to believe in salvation by grace alone, through faith in Christ, and still maintain that eventually all people will be saved?

- Can you believe in mission if you don't believe that someone will be lost forever?

- Can universalism be consistent with the teachings of the Bible

By weaving together philosophical, theological and biblical considerations, he shows that being a committed universalist is consistent with the central teachings of the biblical texts and historical Christian theology.

A Larger Hope?, Volume 2: Universal Salvation from the Reformation to the Nineteenth Century

ILaria L E Ramelli(1973-) Italian, professor of philosophy and theology

A Larger Hope?, Volume 1: Universal Salvation from from Christian Beginnings to Julian of Norwich

Christian theologians were the first to proclaim that everyone would be saved and it was based on their faith in Christ. The idea of a final restoration of all creation was based on the Bible's message and the church's belief in Jesus' total triumph over sin, death and evil through his incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension.

The Christian doctrine of apokatastasis: a critical assessment from the New Testament to Eriugena. (2013)

The book is the result of 16 years of research into early Christian faith and 9 centuries to come. The essence is that all creatures will be reunited with God. This reunion is apokatastasis. Eschatological punishment is interpreted as an act of God's love to achieve enlightenment, purification and salvation.