Dare We Hope That All Men Be Saved?: With a Short Discourse on Hell

"... God may inflict suffering upon us, both in this life and after our death; but always He does this out of tender love and with a positive purpose, as to cleanse us from our sins, to purge and heal us. 'The fury of God's vengeance avails to the purging of our souls.'" Origin, De Principiis, as narrated by Bp. K. Ware "We are forbidden to seek our own salvation in a selfish and egotistical way. We are keepers of our brothers and sisters. The more we work for their salvation, the more of God's favor we can expect for ourselves." Cardinal Dulles Christianity & Universalism: The Doctrine of Universalism, that has been prevailing in the Church during the first fivcenturies, when led by Alexandrine theologians is nothing new. Apocatastasis is as original as Origen had first taught the daring Christian hope in a loving and redeeming Father. Many Orthodox scholars acknowledge that the early Church of Alexandria which did not primarily believe in an apocalyptic Hell, but merely in the Cosmic salvation including all mankind. They termed their belief in Greek 'apocatastasis,' the restoration of all things back to God, as initiated as initiated and defended by Origen. Some of those Orthodox early church leaders who followed suit, as well, taught universalism through Jesus Christ the redeemer. Every major Christian Denomination has in its ranks some strong Universalists like Karl Rahner and John Macquarie. Universalism, some think, is pretty much an American Protestant phenomenon. While most Universalists are in fact Sola Scripturists of a different accent, many of them have studied the early church, and found a kind of vindication for their beliefs by Origen. They appeal to the statement that God "desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:4). Equally unavailing, are appeals to passages that say that God's plan is to reconcile all things in Christ (Ephesians 1:10; Colossians 1:19-20). Although this is surely God's intent, says Avery Cardinal Dulles, "He does not override the freedom that enables men and women to resist His holy will. Paul is apparently seeking to stimulate the apostolic zeal of missionaries who will bring the saving truth of Christ to all who do not yet believe. The absolute necessity of faith for salvation is a constant theme in the writings of Paul. I see no reason, then, for ranking Paul among the universalists." An Empty Hell ? It is because of texts such as "Many are called, but few are chosen" (Mt. 22:14), that the Church has never accepted the hypothesis of an empty Hell. Since then, a vacant Hell seems to have been upheld by virtually few Church fathers. Origen who proposed it ( Hell being in the Church's sense, meant an eternal state of condemnation). Origen said he was speaking tentatively, or more precisely as a hypothesis. Possibly few of the Fathers followed him; the exact number is disputed. Emperor Justinian wrote his "Liber adversus Origenem", containing the reasons for co

"Origen held a firm conviction that not a single rational being will be lost to the darkness of ignorance and sin. Even the most recalcitrant sinner, he argued, will eventually attain salvation. The fire of punishment is not an instrument of eternal torment, but of divine instruction and correction." Edward Moore "We are allowed to hope that no human is eternally damned. This is a founded theological hope, it is not a certitude. Indeed each person must existentially live with the real possibility that he or she might be doomed. The thesis itself is prompted, we believe, by mercy." Balthasar Hell and Salvation: The Church's teaching on Hell has been generally avoided by Christian theologians, who believe that the Lord's own desire that everyone be saved 1Tim 2:4. Hans Urs Cardinal von Balthasar is a notable exception of this attitude, who amended Dare We Hope "That All Men Be Saved"? With a Short Discourse on Hell (1988). It is disappointing however that what he has wrote has stirred up controversy within Roman Catholics, and Christians in general. Grounding his thesis on Scripture, he replies unrelentingly, but rather concisely on what it takes us, together with his great master Origen, to 'hope that all men be saved,' as rooted in that genius adamant faith in the unlimited love of Christ that reaches even into the depths of the abode of Hell. Nevertheless, although he rejects the theory of apokatastasis, von Balthasar is denying that we know that there are or will be humans sentensed to eternal damnation, and is so forceful in defending the salvation hope for of all. James T. O'Connor concludes that, "he appears to be saying that, in fact, no one will be eternally lost." Apokatastasis, Restoration of all things: The idea, usually attributed, perhaps erroneously, to Origen. Since the soul is essentially rational, argued Origen, it will eventually be restored to the divine truth, salvation will follow. The word Origen used to describe this process of universal salvation "restoration of all things," was apokatastasis. Prompted by his idea of the pre-existence of souls, Origen may have come to view the mission of the temporal Church as "a gathering up of all lost, fallen souls into a unity resembling that which subsisted primordially." Apokatastasis, may be viewed as restoration, the culmination of gathering souls in a unity of faith. In a very compelling essay "Origen of Alexandria and apokatastasis: Some Notes on the Development of a Noble Notion," Edward Moore explains, "Yet Origen recognizes the fact that God has a plan for humanity - a plan involving the establishment of ultimate freedom. This ultimate freedom is a freedom in which the possibility of freedom's negation is not present. Origen could not rationalize the standard Christian idea that certain souls will inevitably fail to achieve salvation, and be plunged into eternal torment. If God created all souls equally, with freedom and reason, how could He possibly abandon these

This is a supremely important and courageous work on whether God's infinite love and mercy will allow the people he himself created to perish forever in hell, which is VERY REAL. Dare we hope that hell will be empty, that God was even able to save that poor man, Judas Iscariot? Hans Urs von Balthasar, perhaps the greatest theologian of the last one hundred years, seems to think that "we can dare TO HOPE that all men will be saved." Personally, I dare to hope and pray that all my brothers and sisters in the human family will be sitting with me at the table in our Father's house. Gino Dalpiaz

This is one of my two favorite books written by Hans Urs von Balthasar. The Catholic Church asserts that certain individuals are in Heaven, but never declares a specific individual to be in Hell. In fact, the Church still hopes that in their final moments of life, even the greatest sinners such as Judas Iscariot and Adolph Hitler would have repented of their terrible sins.In this book, Hans Urs von Balthasar pushes the hope that in their final moments of life, all souls will repent and make their peace with God. He hopes all will be saved, not because all deserve Heaven, but rather because all will come to know the great mercy and forgiveness of Our Lord Jesus Christ.Nevertheless, von Balthasar HOPES for the salvation of all. He does not maintain all will indeed be saved, but rather this is his hope. Several times in the work, von Balthasar reminds the reader that Hell remains a very real possibility, and that man must always keep this possibility before his eyes.

. . .by the late Catholic theologian Fr. Hans Urs von Balthasar -- but arguably one of the most important. Critics have unfairly suggested that Fr. von Balthasar is either denying the existence of a literal hell, or denying that anyone is/has been/will be located there. These critics miss the point entirely.My (extremely brief) summary of Fr. von Balthasar's argument does not concern the existence of hell but rather of the duty of the Christian, which is to fervently pray and hope that all men ARE eventually saved; that the love of Christ CAN eventually reach and be accepted by all; and that knowing through Holy Writ that some will NOT be saved and will choose against God does not free the Christian from the duty of praying for such persons.In today's troubling times, von Balthasar's message is of timeless importance. To dare to hope and to dare to pray that the love of God will melt the heart of even the most heinous of sinners is a difficult duty. Indeed, such a reminder is liable to make many people angry. But it is, nevertheless, a reminder which needs to be made.This book is less technical than much of von Balthasar's work, and thus should be much more widely accessible to the informed layman.