A larger hope? : universal salvation from from Christian beginnings to Julian of Norwich / by Ilaria L.E. Ramelli ; with a foreword by Richard Bauckham.

Companion volume to "A larger hope : universal salvation from the Reformation to the Nineteenth century." --Page xvii.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 265-286).

Some biblical roots of the hope for universal salvation? An Origenian reading of scripture -- Universal restoration before Origen -- Origen of Alexandria: Christian universalism as biblical and Orthodox -- Universal salvation in Origen's first followers -- Fourth-century Origenians I: Eusebius, Marcellus, Athanasius, and Didymus -- Fourth-century Origenians II: the Cappadocians and Evagrius -- Apokatastasis in Antioch -- The Latin Origenians -- The last exponents of patristic thought -- The Middle Ages and the early Renaissance -- Conclusion: a Christian hope over 2000 years, grounded in Christ and God as the absolute good and supported in defense of orthodoxy -- Appendix I: The meaning of Aiōnios -- Appendix II: A reply to Michael McClymond's review of The Christian Doctrine of Apokatastasis -- Appendix III. Is Apokatastasis "gnostic" rather than Christian? Review of McClymond, The Devil's Redemption.

"In the minds of some, universal salvation is a heretical idea that was imported into Christianity from pagan philosophies by Origen (c.185-253/4). Ilaria Ramelli argues that this picture is completely mistaken. She maintains that Christian theologians were the first people to proclaim that all will be saved and that their reasons for doing so were rooted in their faith in Christ. She demonstrates that, in fact, the idea of the final restoration of all creation (apokatastasis) was grounded upon the teachings of the Bible and the church's beliefs about Jesus' total triumph over sin, death, and evil through his incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. Ramelli traces the Christian roots of Origen's teaching on apokatastasis. She argues that he was drawing on texts from Scripture and from various Christians who preceded him, theologians such as Bardaisan, Irenaeus, and Clement. She outlines Origen's often-misunderstood theology in some detail and then follows the legacy of his Christian universalism through the centuries that followed. We are treated to explorations of Origenian universal salvation in a host of Christian disciples, including Athanasius, Didymus the Blind, the Cappadocian fathers, Evagrius, Maximus the Confessor, John Scotus Eriugena, and Julian of Norwich." --