Rebutting Necessitarian Universalism: Three Thomistic Arguments – Prof. Mats Wahlberg

Dec 19, 2025

In this engaging discussion, Dr. Mats Wahlberg, a systematic theology expert and former Aquinas Chair, challenges the idea of necessitarian universalism, arguing it clashes with key Christian beliefs. He presents three compelling Thomistic arguments for the possibility of eternal damnation, emphasizing God's respect for human nature and the significance of true free will. Wahlberg clarifies misconceptions about hell, framing it as self-exclusion from divine love rather than arbitrary punishment, and delves into the interplay between goodness, freedom, and the nature of divine causality.

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INSIGHT

Hell As Self-Exclusion, Not Torture

The Catholic doctrine of hell is a permanent, self-inflicted separation from God rather than arbitrary torture.
Hell's chief punishment is the pain of loss, with sensory images as secondary metaphors reflecting spiritual misery.

INSIGHT

Divine Governance Respects Creaturely Natures

God governs creatures in a way that conforms to their natures, permitting natural potencies to be actualized.
Because rational creatures are naturally fallible, God may fittingly allow moral failure without undermining freedom.

ANECDOTE

The 'Imaginary God' Who Can't Permit Death

Wahlberg uses an 'Imaginary God' thought experiment who cannot permit death to show internal tension.
That fantasy God's inability to permit a natural potency would force mutilation of created nature.

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Prof. Mats Wahlberg argues that “necessitarian universalism”—the claim that hell is metaphysically impossible and that God must save all rational creatures—is incompatible with core Christian metaphysical commitments, and he develops three Thomistic arguments to show that the possibility of eternal damnation follows from God’s wisdom, respect for created natures, and desire for truly free self-gift.

This lecture was given on September 6th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.

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About the Speakers:

Mats Wahlberg, Ph.D., is docent and associate professor of systematic theology, a member of the Academy of Catholic Theology, and a research fellow in the Discipline Group of Systematic Theology and Ecclesiology at the Faculty of Theology, Stellenbosch University, South Africa. In 2021, he was the Aquinas Chair at the Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas (the Angelicum) in Rome.

He has published two monographs, Reshaping Natural Theology: Seeing Nature as Creation (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012) and Revelation as Testimony: A Philosophical-Theological Study (Eerdmans, 2014), as well as many articles in journals such as Modern Theology, International Journal of Systematic Theology, International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, European Journal for Philosophy of Religion, and First Things.

His research interests include arguments for God’s existence, the problem of evil, the doctrine of revelation, theology and science (especially the theological implications of evolution) and the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas. Wahlberg's research about the problem of evil and evolution has been funded by the John Templeton Foundation.

Keywords: Beatific Vision, Catholic Doctrine of Hell and Damnation, Creator–Creature Distinction, David Bentley Hart and Universal Salvation, Divine Goodness, Divine Providence, Necessitarian Universalism and Possible Worlds, Permanent Separation from God, Thomistic Account of Debitum Naturae, Thomistic Defense of the Possibility of Hell, Universalism