Barth, Origen, and Universal Salvation

Book excerpt: Barth, Origen, and Universal Salvation offers a bold new presentation of universal salvation. Building constructively from the third- century theologian, Origen, and the twentieth-century Swiss theologian, Karl Barth, Tom Greggs offers a defence of universalism as rooted in Christian theology, showing this belief does not have to be at the expense of human particularity, freedom, and Christian faith. Examining Barth's doctrine of election and Origen's understanding of apokatastasis, Greggs proposes that a proper understanding of the eternal salvific plan of God in the person of Jesus Christ points towards universal salvation. The relationship between the work of the Spirit and the Son in salvation is central to this understanding. Universal salvation is grounded in the person of Christ as himself historic and particular, and the Spirit makes the reality of that universal work of Christ present to individuals and communities in the present. The discussion includes creative suggestions for the political and ecclesial implications of such a presentation of salvation.