Universalism and the Doctrine of Hell

Written by Nigel M. de S. Cameron (ed.) Reviewed By Roy Kearsley

The Rutherford Dogmatics Conference held every two years in Edinburgh has been growing in reputation and this volume can boast some distinguished contributors, including Henri Blocher, Paul Helm, F.W. Norris, T.F. Torrance and John Wenham. The conference is increasingly turning to subjects which require some courage in the handling. The 1991 conference, mainly on universalism and the doctrine of hell, led to these papers. It is to the credit of the conference that it gave opportunity for evangelicals unhappy with a doctrine of endless suffering an opportunity to state their case. Both the participants and other contributors demonstrated genuine interest, courtesy and willingness to engage with the views expressed. Two contributors in particular argue for some form of conditionalism: David J. Powys, who demonstrates the plurality and subtlety of conditionalist approaches, and John Wenham, who fully justifies his place as a modern prophet of the conditionalist gospel. The two papers which respond to their position, by K.S. Harmon and Henri Blocher, decline modern conditionalism but also critique, each in their own way, what is sometimes termed the traditional view. The result is a constructive and instructive dialogue which is a long way from simply endorsing new ways or old ways.

The remaining papers look at diverse aspects of universal and particular salvation. Trevor Hart ably scrutinizes the very different universalisms of John Hick and J.A.T. Robinson and manages to pose some probing questions to evangelicals too. F.W. Norris guides through the thought of Origen and Maximus with his usual surefootedness, an important exercise in the light of renewed interest in patristic eschatology. Daniel du Toit gives a useful overview of 19th- and 20th-century interpretation. John Colwell helpfully addresses the burning question of Barth’s view. T.F. Torrance, in usual formidable form, brings the doctrines of incarnation and atonement to bear in a critical way upon the question of cosmic soteriology. Paul Helm explores the possibility of Christ being the ground of salvation to someone who lacks a knowledge of him in the usual sense and steers a careful course between hard exclusivism and open universalism.

Every paper will repay the reader. The collection is a rare case of a symposium with a high degree of consistency throughout the contributions. Evangelicals embarking on a study of these two topics could do worse than start here.


Roy Kearsley

Glasgow Bible College