Our first episode is here, wherein we discuss the concept of divinity and give you a glimpse into how difficult it is to say anything at all when you are as confused as we are. Also, Doctor Who, video games, and something called “sports” get mentioned.
Okay, Josh, but I’m afraid I’m bringing up the universalism argument again, but only because of your treatment of apophatic and cataphatic theology. On the topics of goodness, wisdom, immutability or love, you say that God is like our human conceptions of these qualities, but also that He is yet beyond and other from these conceptions. However, start mentioning justice, you seem to argue that justice is known in the full and that any system of divine damnation (instead of divine purgation) is precluded by our understanding of God, love, goodness and justice. Indeed, justice itself precludes an everlasting punishment, no?
To get a better understanding of your position, are you saying that justice is a quality of God we have more privileged knowledge of than, say, wisdom or goodness? Or is it that we know, or should know, enough of injustice that universalism is the only viable option.
By the way, hi to everyone else! I’m Adam, a former fellow-student with Josh, former theology/philosophy major, and now erstwhile orthopedic nurse.
By the way, are you putting the e-mail address anywhere on the website?
Adam,
(It’s Josh). My argument is that God’s Justice and Goodness, while not encompassed by our concepts, are in fact congruent with our concepts. God’s goodness, while transcending our concepts of Goodness, does not contradict our concepts of Goodness, it will complete them (in more than a simply conceptual way). When we say that something transcends our categories, we aren’t saying that God’s reality is wholly different than our categories, but that they are greater than them. Thus, while we say that God is beyond Goodness, we do not say that whatever God is, God is totally different than Goodness. Instead, the category of Goodness is not large enough to contain God. Thus, my argument is that God’s Goodness, Mercy,and Justice (i.e. God’s very self) transcends our concepts of Goodness, Mercy, and Justice. However, because God is greater than them, He is still continuous with them.
This does not require special knowledge of Justice, Mercy, or Goodness, only that any argument made from what we know of them, if sound, will not be ultimately wrong with regard that which is ultimately true about God. But of course, even if I’m right that all will be saved in Christ, then that statement “all will be saved in Christ’ is not fully explanatory of the glory that will be revealed to be greater than and transcend that statement in the resurrection.