Ancient afterlife beliefs

Possible traces of universalism in the writings of Latin Christian theologians Introduction In what follows, I’ll present some evidence for the presence of a doctrine or a sympathy of universal reconciliation in some Latin Fathers. In particular, it is possible that St. Ambrose of Milan and St. John Cassian did endorse the doctrine, however the textual evidence from their writings is ambiguous. It is also possible that Rufinus and Aquleia and St. Melania the Elder also endorsed it. St. Jerome at a certain point clearly repudiated it after seemingly having endorsed it earlier and, finally, despite some claims to the contrary, St. Hilary of Poitiers opposed it. St. Ambrose of Milan (c. 339-397) Known as the teacher of St. Augustine, it is possible that he believed that all the baptized or even all human beings shall be saved but the evidence is ambiguous. For instance, he wrote: ‘‘All who are considered to be joined to the holy Church, by being called by the divine name, shall obtain the...

  The question of universalism in the Cappadocians: a historical survey of the reactions to their writings In what follows, I will make a list of references about pre-modern witnesses of ‘universalistic’ or ‘universalist-leaning’ positions in the writings of the Cappadocian Christian philosophers (who lived in the fourth century): Basil of Caesarea, Macrina the Elder, Gregory of Nyssa and Gregory of Nazianzus.   The purpose of this text is to show that, while scant, there is evidence that in pre-modern times some have noted the presence of the doctrine in these figures – especially Gregory of Nyssa – or tried to explain it away by suggesting that the texts have been interpolated (which, in a way, is an admission of the presence of the doctrine in the texts themselves) and the latter strategy was probably popular among the later Greek Christian writers. Basil of Caesarea In a letter to Augustine of Hyppo (fl. 4 th -5 th centuries), Paulus Orosius (fl. 4 th -5 th   ...