Universalism and Eternal Hell | Dr. Josh Rasmussen & Dr. Eric Reitan

I’m joined by philosophers Josh Rasmussen and Eric Reitan to discuss universalism and eternal hell. Buckle up for one hell of a discussion!

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OUTLINE

0:00 Intro & Outline
10:38 What is universalism?
32:15 Infinite crimes?
54:00 Violating freedom?
1:17:57 Evangelism is pointless?
1:23:54 Eternal Separation Argument
1:36:56 Patron questions & the Biblical side

MEOW’S RESOURCES

Thanks to Meow Meow Meow for shouting the following out:

Talbott’s “Inescapable Love of God”, https://www.amazon.com/Inescapable-Lo...

Parry and MacDonald’s “The Evangelical Universalist”, https://www.amazon.com/Evangelical-Un...

VIDEO RESOURCES

(1) Josh’s personal/academic website: https://joshualrasmussen.com/

(2) Josh’s website, Invading Hell: https://invadinghell.com/

(3) Josh’s paper, “Could Everyone Eventually Be Saved?”, http://www.invadinghell.com/articles/...

(4) Josh’s book, “When Heaven Invades Hell”, https://www.amazon.com/When-Heaven-In...

(5) Eric’s PhilPeople profile (with lots of his papers): https://philpeople.org/profiles/eric-...

(6) Eric’s book, “God’s Final Victory: A Comparative Philosophical Case for Universalism”, https://www.amazon.com/Gods-Final-Vic...

(7) Eric’s recent Sophia article on hard-heartedness: https://drive.google.com/file/d/13f1V...

(8) Hartman’s forthcoming article in Religious Studies, “​Free will and the moral vice explanation for hell’s finality”, https://philarchive.org/archive/HARFWA-5

Abstract: According to the Free Will Explanation of a traditional view of hell, human freedom explains why some human persons are in hell. Human freedom also explains its punishment and finality: persons in hell have freely developed moral vices that are their own punishment and that make repentance psychologically impossible. So, even though God continues to desire reconciliation with persons in hell, damned persons do not want reconciliation with God. But this moral vice explanation of hell’s finality is implausible. I argue that God can and would make direct or indirect alterations in their character to give them new motivational reasons that re-enable their freedom to repent. Subsequently, I argue partly that it is probable that each damned person will be saved eventually, because there is a potential infinity of opportunities for free repentance. Thus, if the Free Will Explanation’s descriptions of hell and divine love are correct, it is highly probable that each person in hell escapes to heaven.

(9) Keith DeRose, “Universalism and the Bible”, https://campuspress.yale.edu/keithder...

(10) Here are some resources on the dim prospects of offering theodicies without universalism:

(a) Adams, Marilyn McCord (1993). “The Problem of Hell: A Problem of Evil for Christians,” in Reasoned Faith, ed. Eleonore Stump (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press), 301–27.

(b) Adams, Marilyn McCord (1999). Horrendous Evils and the Goodness of God (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press).

(c) Buckareff, Andrei A. and Allen Plug (2013). “Hell and the Problem of Evil,” in The Blackwell Companion to the Problem of Evil, ed. Justin McBrayer and Daniel Howard-Snyder (Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell), 128–43.

(d) Collins, Robin (2013). “The Connection-Building Theodicy,” in The Blackwell Companion to the Problem of Evil, 222–35.

(e) Hick, John (2010). Evil and the God of Love (Houndsmills: Palgrave Macmillan).

(11) My PhilPapers Profile: https://philpeople.org/profiles/josep...

(12) My website: https://www.josephschmid.com/