David Artman - Grace Saves All: The Necessity of Christian Universalism

Episode: In this episode, Chris Tilling interviews David Artman, author of Grace Saves All: The Necessity of Christian Universalism (Wipf and Stock). Rich in exegetical claims, Artman boldly proposes that Christian Universalism isn’t simply a possible option, but a necessity to adequately account for the goodness of God. Artman is not defending – to quote Brad Jersak in his foreword – a “sloppy pop-universalism that fails to proclaim Christ alone, the necessity of a faith response, or the reality of judgement”. Instead, today’s guest aims to present something that is biblically compelling and theological orthodox. To teases out the claims, Chris Tilling walks through Artman’s chapters on the bible, judgment, grace, hell, Revelation and more besides.

Guest: David Artman is an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). He holds master of divinity and Doctor of ministry degrees from Brite Divinity School. He is an only child, a husband, a 5-string banjo player, a minister, and a Christian universalist. Putting all of this together he says this means he is, “kind of spoiled, doted upon, pretty eclectic, and can’t shake the idea that God is in the business of finally saving all of God’s lost and wayward children by grace”. After being in pastoral ministry for over 30 years, he has now shifted gears towards writing and podcasting. His first book, Grace Saves All: The Necessity of Christian Universalism was published by Wipf & Stock in April of 2020. His podcast Is called Grace Saves All. It’s Available on iTunes, Google, and other podcast platforms, as well as at the podcast page of his website davidartman.net. In the podcast he has put forward his own views, and interviewed such notables as David Bentley Hart, John Milbank, John Behr, Brad Jersak, William Paul Young, Brian Zahnd, Brian McLaren, Robin Parry and Douglas Campbell.

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If you enjoyed this episode, listen back to our old episode where Brad Jersak interviewed Meghan Henning about her book Educating Early Christians Through the Rhetoric of Hell.