Chrześcijanie ewangeliczni a uniwersalizm zbawienia

Abstract

Universalism of eschatological salvation has no recognized place within evangelicalism’s bounds. It has been considered not only divergent from authentic evangelical faith, but also seriously undermining the integrity of any evangelical who advocated it while claiming still to be an evangelical. A telling example of it were already some prominent universalists in the 17th and 18th centuries. Only a few of them were able to remain within their denominational churches. The paper deals with such issues as universalism and pietism, the process of defecting from traditional doctrine of evangelicalism, and the influence of Karl Barth’s views. Finally the possibility of evangelical universalism and the problem of a literalistic approach to the Bible as the main obstacle to overcome traditional opposition to the idea of universal salvation are discussed. A literal interpretation of the Bible is what has supported the doctrine of an eternal hell. The author is convinced that the Bible itself does not teach us to believe that all of its contents are to be taken literally. The advocates of the traditional teaching fail to appreciate the rich diversity of literary forms in the Bible. They also fail to respect the limitations of language and the role cultural context plays in getting at the true meaning of controversial texts. Evangelical Christians may acknowledge the possibility of salvation for at least some people who have not heard the Gospel of Christ. They generally exclude any possibility of post-mortem conversion and regeneration. They do not believe that “universalism” can be a credible option for evangelicals of whatever background. Nevertheless, recently there are clear signs of a new development in eschatological thinking within evangelicalism. One can already see that some of those evangelical theologians who had embraced ‘wider hope’ and ‘post-mortem’ models move further, towards outright universalism.