Christian universalism

Christian universalism is a school of Christian theology focused around the doctrine of universal reconciliation – the view that all human beings will ultimately be saved and restored to a right relationship with God. "Christian universalism" and "the belief or hope in the universal reconciliation through Christ" can be understood as synonyms.

The term Christian universalism was used in the Christian Intelligencer in the 1820s by Russell Streeter—a descendant of Adams Streeter who had founded one of the first Universalist Churches on September 14, 1785. Some Christian universalists claim that in Early Christianity (prior to the 6th century), this was the most common interpretation of Christianity.

As a formal Christian denomination, Christian universalism originated in the late 18th century with the Universalist Church of America. There is no single denomination uniting Christian universalists, but a few denominations teach some of the principles of Christian universalism or are open to them. Instead, their membership has been consolidated with the American Unitarian Association into the Unitarian Universalist Association in 1961.

In his Plain Guide to Universalism, universalist Thomas Whittemore writes, "The sentiment by which Universalists are distinguished, is this that: at last every individual of the human race shall become holy and happy. This does not comprise the whole of their faith, but, merely that feature of it which is peculiar to them and by which they are distinguished from the rest of the world."

The remaining central beliefs of Christian universalism are compatible with Christianity in general:

In 1899, the Universalist General Convention, later called the Universalist Church of America, adopted the Five Principles: the belief in God, belief in Jesus Christ, the immortality of the human soul, that sinful actions have consequence, and universal reconciliation.

Christian universalists disagree on whether hell exists. However, they do agree that if it does exist, the punishment there is corrective and remedial and does not last forever.

Purgatorial universalism was the belief of some of the early Church Fathers, especially Greek-speaking ones such as Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Gregory of Nyssa. It asserts that the unsaved will undergo hell but that hell is remedial (neither everlasting nor purely retributive) according to key scriptures and that after purification or conversion all will enter heaven.