This is a list of writers who advocated Christian universalism—specifically, Trinitarian universalism–prior to the 1961 creation of the Unitarian Universalist Association.

Scholars Hosea Ballou (Ancient History of Universalism, 1828), John Wesley Hanson (Universalism: The Prevailing Doctrine of the Christian Church During Its First Five Hundred Years, 1899), George T. Knight (The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, 1911), and Pierre Batiffol (Catholic Encyclopedia, 1914) catalogued some early Christians—from the second through fourth centuries—as universalists, but modern scholarship questions the claim that all of these individuals were believers in universal reconciliation. Some listed by those writers may have simply believed in apokatastasis in the Jewish or early Christian sense, without any expectation that all who had ever lived would be saved.

Several modern Christian theologians have been deemed "hopeful universalists" for a belief in the possibility of universal reconciliation, but did not claim it as a dogmatic fact, e.g. Karl Barth, Cormac Murphy-O'Connor and Pope Francis.

Table

NameLivedNationalityDenominationNotes
Clement of Alexandria150-215Coptic / Greekearly churchPriest, instructor at the School of Alexandria.
Origen185-254Coptic / Greekearly churchTheologian, disciple of Clement.
Gregory of Nyssa335-394Greekearly churchBishop, Cappadocian Father.
Didymus the Blind310-398Coptic / Greekearly churchTheologian, disciple of Origen.
Theodore of Mopsuestia352-428GreekChurch of the EastBishop, hermeneuticist.
Isaac the Syrian613-700SyrianChurch of the EastBishop, theologian.
John Scotus Eriugena800sIrishearly churchTheologian, Neoplatonist, poet.
Richard Coppin1500s or 1600s–1660sEnglishAnglican, later Presbyterian RanterAnglican clergyman.
William Law1686–April 9, 1761EnglishAnglicanCleric.
Jane Leade1624–1704EnglishBehemenist, later PhiladelphianMystic, founder of the Philadelphians.
Alexander MackJuly 27, 1679–January 18, 1735GermanReformed, later Brethren/German BaptistFounder and first minister of the Brethren/German Baptists.
Giovanni Pico della MirandolaFebruary 24, 1463–November 17, 1494ItalianRoman CatholicKabbalist and philosopher.
John Pordage1607–1681EnglishAnglican, later PhiladelphianPriest and mystic.
Andrew Michael RamsayJanuary 9, 1686–May 6, 1743ScottishRoman Catholic
Thomas Potter1689–1777AmericanBaptist, later Universalist Church of AmericaUniversalist minister.
Gerrard Winstanley1609–September 10, 1676EnglishDigger and Quaker
George MacDonaldDecember 10, 1824–September 19, 1905ScottishCongregationalClergyman and writer of novels.
Maria Cook1779–December 21, 1835AmericanUniversalistFirst woman to be recognized as a Universalist preacher.
Sergei BulgakovJuly 28, 1871–July 12, 1944RussianRussian OrthodoxOrthodox priest and former socialist politician.
John MilbankOctober 23, 1952–presentEnglishAnglicanTheology professor, founder of radical orthodoxy
David Bentley HartFebruary 20, 1965–presentAmericanEpiscopalian, later Greek OrthodoxWriter and Orthodox philosopher.

Notes

  • For example, Frederick W. Norris in the article on apocatastasis in 2004's The Westminster Handbook to Origen writes that "As far as we can tell, therefore, Origen never decided to stress exclusive salvation or universal salvation, to the strict exclusion of either case."

References

See also