The most common explanation of why God might permit some rational creatures to miss their final end is the so-called “Free Will Defense” of hell. Unfortunately, this explanation depends on a problematic conception of free will that is foreign to the Thomistic tradition. Responding to David Bentley Hart’s forceful case for universalism, this lecture suggests a “Thomistic Autonomy Defense” that escapes the problems of the Free Will Defense and goes beyond traditional Thomistic explanations of negative reprobation.
12 June 2025
How Can a Good God Permit Eternal Damnation? Thomism and the Problem of Hell
With Mats Wahlberg, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies, Umeå University, Sweden.
The most common explanation of why God might permit some rational creatures to miss their final end is the so-called “Free Will Defense” of hell. Unfortunately, this explanation depends on a problematic conception of free will that is foreign to the Thomistic tradition. Responding to David Bentley Hart’s forceful case for universalism, this lecture suggests a “Thomistic Autonomy Defense” that escapes the problems of the Free Will Defense and goes beyond traditional Thomistic explanations of negative reprobation.
The most common explanation of why God might permit some rational creatures to miss their final end is the so-called “Free Will Defense” of hell. Unfortunately, this explanation depends on a problematic conception of free will that is foreign to the Thomistic tradition. Responding to David Bentley Hart’s forceful case for universalism, this lecture suggests a “Thomistic Autonomy Defense” that escapes the problems of the Free Will Defense and goes beyond traditional Thomistic explanations of negative reprobation.
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