After a slow start we are ready to get going in Gospel Conversations for 2026. We will kick off with this fascinating interview I did with Robin Parry about his personal journal to universal salvation. Robin has led the vanguard for universal salvation since the publication of his landmark book in 2006 “The Evangelical Universalist” which probably did what no other book had quite done in the modern era - it put universalism on the table as a genuine option in the gospel not as a heresy.

So it is really intriguing to get the story behind the book, and his journey. I have always been fascinated by seeing how poets or writers actually crafted their works, and developed their ideas. In Robin’s case we get the story - including his early years as an agnostic and his conversion to a pretty fundamentalist form of Christianity. But then he shares the doubts that led to his changing mind.

But we get more than that. We also get his feelings about the book and his position - did he feel precarious being out on a limb so far? And in a fascinating section, he explains why the book was so well received in the end - including by its critics. We also get a feel for Robin the person - his lovely combination of measured thought, synthetic thinking and very irenic disposition which has commended him to many including his opponents. So all this makes his journey one for our times, I believe.

In the course of this interview, he mentions a couple of key texts - here are the details of you want to get hold of them.

Firstly, Eric Reitan whose book “Troubled Paradise” was recently published by Wipf and Stock. It addresses one big issue around hell - how can anyone be happy in paradise if they know others, including their beloveds, are in hell.

Secondly he mentioned Al Kimel’s book “Destined for Joy” and in particular the chapter on whether the Fifth Ecumenical council really did condemn Origen and universal salvation as heresies. This book is a profound defence of universal salvation but you need to read the last bit first to grasp its power: the 2012 funeral oration that Kimel delivered on the death (by suicide) of his adult, unbelieving, son. This event made him ‘come out’ as a universalist.

Soon we will post the last of the talks by Ilaria Ramelli, and then I will repost a short talk I gave on my personal journey towards cosmic restoration.

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56: Signs Of The Sojourner