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(More customer reviews)Every Knee Should Bow provides an overview of the the views of Clement of Alexandria (ca. 160 - 215), Origen (ca. 185 - ca. 251), and Gregory of Nyssa (331/340 - ca. 395) regarding the belief that all rational beings will eventually be saved. All three of these early Christians believed that post-mortem punishment is finite in duration and that it in some fashion purges sin from the soul so that eventually everyone will be saved.
Steven R. Harmon does a good job of explaining the views held by each of the three writers as well as explaining why they held such views. In particular, Harmon notes how the three writers deal with key texts that, on a literal level, seem to support (John 12:32; Acts 3:21; Romans 5:18-21, 11:25-26a, 32; 1 Corinthians 3:12-15; 15:22-28; 2 Corinthians 5:19; Ephesians 1:10; Philippians 2:9-11; Colossians 1:20; 1 Timothy 2:4; Titus 2:11; 2 Peter 3:9; 1 John 2:2) or refute (Matthew 5:29-30; 8:12; Matthew 10:28/Luke 12:5; Matthew 18:8-9/Mark 9:42-48; Matthew 25:31-46; Luke 16:19-31; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9; Revelation 20:14-15; 21:8) universalism.
The reader should be warned that Greek terms and phrases are quoted frequently and not always translated into English (at least not for every occurrence of the Greek). Moreover, the Greek is not transliterated. However, I don't know Greek and still found the book quite informative.
A minor issue I have with the book is that Harmon appears to think that the Greek word aionios must mean "eternal," either in duration or effect. Since these three writers speak of "eternal punishment" as well as universal restoration Harmon seems to think they use the term to mean that the punishment has the eternal effect of saving the wicked. However, certain translations of the Bible (e.g., Young's Literal Translation, Green's Literal Translation, J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible) consistently translate the term as "age-during" or "age-abiding" which suggests it does not have to mean "eternal" and that there is far less tension between "eternal punishment" and universalism than there initially appears to be. I would have welcomed more of an explanation on this point.
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In Every Knee Should Bow, Steven Harmon explores the manner in which Clement of Alexandria (ca. 160-215 C.E.), Origen (ca. 185-ca. 251 C.E.), and Gregory of Nyssa (331/340-ca. 395 C.E.) appealed to Scripture in developing rationales for their concepts of apokatastasis, the hope that all rational creatures will ultimately be reconciled to God. Harmon argues that these patristic universalists maintained their hope for "a wideness in God's mercy" primarily because they believed this hope was the most coherent reading of the biblical story. Although Hellenistic thought might also have suggested an eschatology in which the end corresponds to the beginning, the eschatologies of these ancient Christian theologians were shaped mainly by the Hebrew story of creation, fall, redemption, and consummation, read through the lenses of the church's experience of God's saving work in the person of Jesus Christ. These early attempts to take seriously the biblical story's affirmations of the divine intention to save all people on the one hand, and of judgment and hell on the other, have a certain timeless relevance. In a context not unlike that of the late antique Christian world, the postmodern church again wrestles with these tensions in the biblical story in the midst of religious pluralism.
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