Dinner with Thomas Talbott

[SteveW]

Hi Everyone,

A couple of years back I decided it was probably time to sit down and talk with my dad more thoroughly about my universalistic beliefs.  I wasn't looking forward to the conversation at all as I come from a family of very conservative evangelicals (his brother graduated from Dallas Seminary and went on to teach at another seminary).  Anyway, in preparation I sent my dad several extended quotes off this site, one of which was from Thomas Talbott.  My dad replied that yes, he'd like to talk and that, by the way, he had gone to high school with Thomas Talbott.  In fact they were apparently thick as thieves and engaged in a lot of theological discussions (it was a small Christian high school).  This was a huge relief to me - I didn't have to defend anything to my dad because here was someone he respected who could provide far better answers than I!  Although my dad saw Tom at their frequent high school reunions aparently Tom didn't make an issue of universalism at them so my dad hadn't know of his position.

Anyway, through the course of many discussions with my dad and reading and rereading Tom's book "The Inescapable Love of God" my parents invited Tom and his wife and myself and my wife for an afternoon/evening of discussion and dinner at their house.   I had been impressed by Tom's gracious demeanor in his interactions with others, including his detractors, online.  I found him to be very much the same in person:  incredibly intelligent and insightful, humble to a fault, and not obsessed with universalism but very passionate about it.  It turned out to be a most enjoyable time of fellowship together.  I guess that's why I wanted to share about my evening with Tom, to testify that from what I saw, he is a genuinely decent, gracious, and likeable person - the kind of person you would hope had authored a book about God's love.

One more thing, I asked him about how his book had become known.  He said that it really has pretty much just been word of mouth, with some of his family taking the initiative to get the word out.  So let me encourage you to read the book if you haven't and to share it with others if you have.  It really is an excellent explanation of universalism and it makes the concepts very real - I can't read certain parts of it about God's love without getting very emotional.

SteveW

[jabcat]

This sounds very good.  I appreciate TT's adherence to the scrips and not just abstract reasoning.

[WhiteWings]

One more thing, I asked him about how his book had become known.  He said that it really has pretty much just been word of mouth,

Perhaps a odd thing to say: With big thanks to the opposition. Controversial things often get know very fast because of all the fights.