That All Shall Be Saved

This will, hands down, go down as one of the most impactful and influential books of my entire life. At least this moment, I'm entirely convinced of Hart's arguments in this volume. I will just have to do a deep dive into the counter arguments. But the logic and framework of reality that he's working from here seems to be unassailably correct. But a framework can be logically consistent, whole, beautiful, and make sense of almost all aspects of reality and intuition, and still probably be incorrect. This book is a tour de force onslaught in favor of universalism and against all competing variations of it's rejection. To me, the only sticking point the scripture itself. Hart recasts many of the key texts involved in this debate in such a way where it makes total sense and has changed the way I look at scripture in so many aspects of it. But there is still sections in parts and verses that I can't quite fit into this framework, and that makes me uneasy.

That is where this book loses a star. Hart knows very well what his opponents will say and where they will turn, but from the outset he assumes bad faith from them for a whole host of reasons and literally says that he expects this book to not convince anyone or change anyone's in mind. I think general cynicism is warranted, but to absolutely and completely just give up the entire enterprise of persuasion makes this almost feel like a useless book. Now, maybe that was a rhetorical device in the first place to disarm people were to give himself license to say what he really feels rather than couch it in ways that others could receive more easily. But throughout the book he has no amount of understanding nor ability to empathize with why the majority of the church for the majority of its history has disagreed with him. He does deal with that argument to some extent, but he's so alienates, insults, and belittles anyone that would possibly disagree with him, I don't know what to do with this book. It was hugely impactful for me, but I don't feel comfortable suggesting it to anyone else that may disagree with him. And indeed, the few negative reviews and counterpoints to this book which I have read have all focused on his tone and seeming appeal to emotion as an argument. It allows them to not actually have to deal with his real arguments. And that is a shame.

So this is a five-star book in terms of content and argumentation and accomplishing what he says out to do. It's a three-star book in terms of its place in the broader debates and conversations on these and related issues. It could have been more, and I wish it was. But either way, this book is going to stick with me the rest of my life, and I'm still trying to process its implications for everything else I feel called to do in ministry and the world.

But nevertheless, I am comforted by the central truth of this book, that God truly is good and he will be all in all.

P.S. on a side note, I know this was not his intent or desire at all, but Hart actually strengthened me in my Calvinism with this book. He has just made me a calvinist universalist, and he sounds a lot like one too. His musings on the will, it's bondage, and the myth of its freedom sound like something Luther or Calvin (or even Edwards!) would have written, it is some of the most profound and compelling thoughts on that topic you will find in any book. And frankly, those musings are worth the cost of this book by themselves even without drawing out its implications for eternity.