These are extremely grave delusions which, by fostering complacency, are sure to add to the number of the damned. In reality, there is no reasonable hope whatsoever that all are saved. The relevant philosophical and theological considerations make this conclusion unavoidable. I have addressed these issues in some depth in many articles over the years, and it seemed to me a good idea to collect them in one place for readers who might find that useful.
My most detailed
and academic presentation of the philosophical considerations showing that a
soul that is locked on evil at death will remain so perpetually can be found in
my New Blackfriars article “Aquinas
on the Fixity of the Will After Death” and in chapter 10 of my book Immortal
Souls: A Treatise on Human Nature.
I have also
addressed this issue, along with other questions that frequently arise in
connection with the idea of damnation, in a series of articles here at the
blog. Why can a soul that is damned not
repent? Is there a sense in which God
damns us, or are we damned only insofar as we damn ourselves? Would annihilation not be a more suitable
punishment than perpetual suffering? Could
we really be happy in heaven knowing that some are in hell? Might we deny that hell is everlasting without
also denying that heaven is everlasting? If there is no hell, why is it urgent to
repent and be baptized? Is it hateful to
warn people that they are in danger of hell?
Wouldn’t it be pointless for God to create people who end up
damned? These and other questions are
addressed in the following posts:
Speaking
(what you take to be) hard truths ≠ hatred
The evidence
from scripture, the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, and the Magisterium that
the reality of hell has been infallibly taught is overwhelming. I set this evidence out, and address some
common attempts to get around it, in the following articles:
Scripture
and the Fathers contra universalism
Popes,
creeds, councils, and catechisms contra universalism
In recent
years, the most influential defender of universalism has been David Bentley
Hart. At Catholic Herald, I reviewed Hart’s book That All Shall Be Saved:
David
Bentley Hart’s attack on Christian tradition fails to convince
Hart responded
to this review, and in reply to his response I wrote the following much more detailed
critique of his book:
I had reason
to revisit Hart’s arguments in a further article:
I address
Balthasar’s views and the dangerous complacency they foster in another series
of articles:
Finally, a
few posts that are not on the topic of hell per se, but are relevant. I would suggest that contemporary discomfort with
the doctrine of hell is, at least in part, more a reflection of the softness of
modern Western society than a genuinely Christian understanding of the divine
nature and the human condition. Modern people
simply cannot fathom a God who would permit great suffering, much less a God
who would actually inflict it as punishment.
But Christianity has always taught that suffering is necessary even for
the righteous, and is a feature rather than a bug of salvation history. And if even the righteous must suffer, how
much more the unrepentant wicked? A few relevant
articles are:
The
“first world problem” of evil
Augustine
on divine punishment of the good alongside the wicked