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"We should all already know that whenever the terms 'justice' and 'eternal punishment' are set side by side as if they were logically compatible, the boundaries of the rational have been violated." — David Bentley Hart #ThatAllShallBeSaved
"From the perspective of Christian belief, the very notion of a punishment that is not intended ultimately to be remedial is morally dubious (and, I submit, anyone who doubts this has never understood Christian teaching at all)"
#DBH argues that an infinite punishment for a finite sin is immoral
#DBH also argues against the Thomasists that mere existence isn't a sufficient good itself when that existence is in eternal punishment. Especially when one is in isolation from all others.
#DBH unsurprisingly holds the double predestination of Calvinism (and post-Reformation Thomism) in derision, suggesting the doctrine confuses the devil with God. "If this is one's religion, then one is simply a diabolist who has gotten the names in the story confused."
#DBH also argues that any "model for freedom" is "inherently absurd" and "it multiplies that absurdity by an infinite sum in claiming that this fabulous power of free choice could ever eventuate in a rejection of God extending into eternity."
And do he rejects any nonsensical argument about the gates of hell being locked from the inside, and rejects acquittal of God's goodness by arguing that people's free will alone damns them.
#DBH caracature of John Calvin is diabolical praise, as he praises Calvin's rational consistency while he confesses that he has paraphrased Calvin in a way he would not approve as he condemns his double predestination as immoral
There's no mention of Reformed theologians after Calvin, such as the universalism of Friedrich Schleiermacher or the hope for universalism in the theology of Karl Barth. Based on certain remarks, I assume this is intentional silence.
