That All Shall Be Saved: Heaven, Hell, and Universal Salvation

by David Bentley Hart

All that said, however, I suppose I do have to plead guilty to a certain breach of etiquette. I knew before setting out that there are some fairly inflexible rules about how one is allowed to discuss this topic, and I chose to ignore them. No one has ever written them down, of course, but everyone is tacitly expected to observe them, and anyone so tactless as to violate them—to raise serious questions in the wrong way about the logical and moral coherence of the concept of a state of perpetual conscious torment visited upon rational creatures by a God of infinite love and justice, or about its scriptural or historical authenticity—risks the sort of censure that can scour a social calendar clean. These rules tell us that, even if one might think the concept of an eternal hell truly obscene, and that it makes existence itself seem like a cruel burden visited on us by a merciless omnipotence, one must never be so indiscreet as to say so. We must not scandalize the faithful. If one feels an irresistible impulse to raise questions here, one must still conceal any excessive personal distaste for the received view, affect doubt about one’s doubts, assume a deferential attitude toward tradition, and express oneself humbly, hesitantly, demurely, apologetically—even contritely. This, alas, I cannot do. Really, as far as I can see, these rules have nothing to do with good manners and everything to do with uneasy consciences. I am convinced that, just below the surface of most believe...