Below I’ve transcribed a video clip introducing Robin Parry and explaining why hell is such an important topic to explore.
We in Gospel Conversations got interested in hell rather intensely—or decided to be interested in hell—about 18 months ago. For a period of time before that, I personally was worried about the doctrine of Hell. Worried because it just simply doesn’t fit in with the broader Creation Gospel that we’d spent a long time developing and exploring in Gospel Conversations.
In Gospel Conversations we’re really trying to take God out of the religious box and put him in the big wide world. That meant starting to read the Bible in Genesis 1—not in Genesis 3—and seeing the resurrection as the recreation of all humanity. This is very, very good news. It’s a declaration—a hugely humanistic declaration—on what it is to be made an image of God—that’s all very optimistic… and then you put hell into it and it’s all very pessimistic. It isn’t just pessimism, it isn’t just an emotional conflict; it’s a logical conflict between a message of goodness and optimism and a message of exclusion.
It isn’t just pessimism, it isn’t just an emotional conflict; it’s a logical conflict between a message of goodness and optimism and a message of exclusion.
So I decided last year to give a series of talks, which were exploratory because I didn’t really know what I thought. I think it’s a matter that’s genuinely ambiguous. As we did that and we stumbled across what’s commonly called the doctrine of Apocatastasis, which is the Greek word that Peter uses in his sermon in Acts 3 to describe the world reformation Christ has inaugurated.
We discovered that Robin Parry was one of the people who had been through a similar journey and then articulated—fairly thoroughly—from a biblical point of view this question he had explored himself—gone on the same journey. I thought (and not just me but many people) he—in a very reasonable way—put forward a balanced consideration of the question and a balanced support for universal salvation from an evangelical position.
Robin Parry put forward a balanced consideration of the question and a balanced support for universal salvation from an evangelical position.
So we decided to invite Robin out to our conference in July [20th and 27th, 2019, Sydney]. We’re very excited about that. Robin’s a good speaker but a gentle, open-minded, intelligent man. On the first Saturday we will listen to him talk and on the second Saturday it will be more interactive, with him and others, talking about the consequences of this re-paradigming or reshaping of the Gospel towards hope rather than hell.
It’s certainly something that we want to put on the agenda. It’s been on the agenda of the church for centuries and only recently got off the agenda of the church. We hope that a lot of people will come and listen because a lot of people worry about this but have no place to explore and discuss it. This is our our gift to all such people.
Reforming Hell 
That’s GR8 !
And if you’re able to video Robin’s presentations to share with the rest of us — that would be even GR8R !!
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I was thinking about that last night and will ask them to get a professional to record the talks 🙂
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I didn’t realise you were Sydney based. I am too. Could you please give me the date, time and location of these talks? I look forward to meeting both you and gregory macdonald in the flesh!
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I live in south Tasmania, although with events like this wish I was Sydney based 🙂 God willing, I’m going to fly up for the conference. It will be held in July on Saturday 20th (3x 1h talks by Parry) and Saturday 27th (interactive Q&A forum with Parry). I’m waiting to hear back from the organiser as to the venue, times, etc. I look forward to meeting you too.
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sick oen. There are a few staunch infernalists I would like to bring along with me. Cause right now when I talk about universalism other christians perceive me as some sorta “odd-one-out” heretic/kook. But it would be hard for them to maintain that position if they went to a conference where they were surrounded by people who share my beliefs haha.
I’ve subscribed to the newsletter. Hopefully updated information will be regularly forthcoming. There already seems to be a date and a venue, now i’m just waiting for a time
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Reblogged this on ∀pokatastasic Osmosis.
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Conference details are now up: https://www.gospelconversations.com/hope-and-hell
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Good news for Christians in Australia! In spite of the name my site is in Swedish but I have some useful English links there too.
I feel blessed being able to discover apokatastasis just a few years ago and so far I have visited two conferences, in Denver Colorado in August 2016 and in Providence Rhode Island in April 2018 and made good friends.
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Indeed! For almost a decade I’ve been praying Robin would be able to get out to Australia. Lovely to hear you’ve been able to get to conferences and connect with people there.
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Hi Alex, sounds great – to hear from Robin in the flesh would be awesome. I am working in Darwin and cannot get time off. All the best and see you in Tasmania, probably at Christmas!
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Indeed, I’m really looking forward to it. Shame that you can’t make it but hopefully it will be videoed and I’ll be able to tell you all about it when you’re next down here 🙂
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That will be great Alex! Looking forward to it – all the best.
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