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Annihilation or salvation? A philosophical case for preferring universalism to annihilationism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 June 2020

JOHN KRONEN  and
ERIC REITAN Open the ORCID record for ERIC REITAN [Opens in a new window]
JOHN KRONEN*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, 2115 Summit Avenue, University of St. Thomas, St. PaulMN 55105, USA
ERIC REITAN*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, Oklahoma State University, StillwaterOK 74708, USA
*
e-mail: jdkronen@stthomas.edu
e-mail: eric.reitan@okstate.edu
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Abstract

In God's Final Victory: A Comparative Philosophical Case for Universalism, we argue that for every version of the doctrine of hell there is a version of the doctrine of universal salvation that, granted traditional Christian teachings, is more philosophically defensible. This article explores whether a parallel case can be made for preferring universalism to annihilationism. While assuming for the sake of this article that the chief arguments for favouring universalism over the doctrine of hell, developed in God's Final Victory, are strong, we argue that a comparably strong parallel case for favouring universalism to annihilationism can indeed be made.

Type
Original Article
Information
Religious Studies , Volume 58 , Issue 1 , March 2022 , pp. 138 - 161
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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