Thomas Talbott
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Thomas Talbott is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Willamette University, Salem, Oregon. He is probably most well known for his advocacy of Trinitarian Universalism, is notable for being one of the most prominent voices among Protestants today regarding universal salvation due to his book The Inescapable Love of God. A book entitled Universal Salvation?: The Current Debate has recently come to print, in which multiple authors from various fields (Theology, Philosophy, Church History, etc.) build arguments to either support or deny his universalist tenets.
[edit] Universalist Argument
Talbott has offered three propositions which are biblically based but can not all be true at the same time.
- God is omnipotent and sovereign.
- God is omnibenevolent, ontologically love and wants all men to be saved
- Some (a lot) of people will experience eternal conscious torment in hell. [1]
Traditionally, Calvinists resolved this by disagreeing with #2. God elects some to be saved and passes over others, who are to be damned for their sin in the doctrine of double predestination. Arminians resolve this by disagreeing with #1. Some people will resist God and choose eternal damnation. Universalists disagree with #3.
Since there are multiple biblical verses (in some translations) about people experiencing eternal conscious torment in hell, Universalists must either refute or reinterprete these verses.
