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Article: Universalism redux. (Correspondence).
- Article from:
- First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life
- Article date:
- December 1, 2001
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Institute on Religion and Public Life. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In "Will All Be Saved?" (Public Square, August/September) Richard John Neuhaus uses an interesting argument to establish his hope of universal salvation: a) Christians are to pray for the salvation of everyone, b) one cannot pray for something that one certainly knows will not be granted, hence c) universal salvation is a legitimate hope.
But the basic issue here involves the different ways in which various petitionary prayers are offered up. For example, a Christian may pray that God would put an end to a drought and send rain. In doing so, he will be aware that should God answer his prayer, the answer will assume the form of a clear-cut, unilaterally performed ...