Reprint of the original, first published in 1877.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1877.

'The name of Thomas Erskine is one of the more significant landmarks on the map of nineteenth-century British theology. Erskine, though, is little read these days, and there has long been a need for an in-depth authoritative treatment of his thought in order to rekindle our interest. Don Horrocks has provided just such a study. Horrocks' focus on Erskine's soteriology opens up distinctive perspectives on a raft of key theological themes from the doctrine of God to the nature of faith and religious experience, and the authoritative sources for theology. In addition, this informative study captures the mood of that early-mid nineteenth-century intellectual milieu which Erskine's thought both embodies and transcended. Unmatched in its analysis and evaluation of Erskine's contribution.' - Trevor Hart, Professor of Divinity, St Mary's College, University of St Andrews, Scotland 'Don Horrocks is a born researcher who writes with clarity and interest. This book is a splendid contribution to the growing conversations concerning previously neglected theologians. Thomas Erskine's precocity has come of age and I can think of no better a presentation of his context and theology than that offered by Horrocks.' - Graham McFarlane, Lecturer in Systematic Theology, London School of Theology, UK 'Thomas Erskine is one of the seminal but neglected theologians of nineteenth-century Scotland. In his study Don Horrocks introduces us to Erskine's thought in a thematic way that is at once lucid, scholarly and stimulating. It should be on the bookshelf of every serious student of the period.' - Nick Needham, Lecturer in Church History, Highland Theological College, Dingwall, Scotland 'Don Horrocks' work provides a searching analysis of this key nineteenth-century theologian. It is likely to be the first recourse on the subject for many years to come.' - Meic Pearse, Associate Professor of History, Houghton College Don Horrocks spent twenty-five years in business in corporate banking and management consultancy. He completed his Ph.D. on which this work is based at London Bible College in 2002. He has headed up the Evangelical Alliance's Policy Commission for four years. He was appointed Public Affairs Manager for the Alliance in September 2001. He has edited books on transsexuality and on GM Crops and Foods for the Evangelical Alliance Policy Commission. A Research Associate at London School of Theology, he is married with three children.

When Scottish lay theologian Thomas Erskine’s book The Unconditional Freeness of the Gospel was published in 1828, it provoked a storm of controversy throughout his Calvinist homeland. The ideas expressed in the book were violently attacked as being radical, unwarranted, and heretical, and yet, by the turn of the twentieth century, those same ideas that had been so heatedly condemned when first presented had become common stock in the Christian world—ideas such as the universal Fatherhood of God, the universal atonement of Christ, and a gospel that was meant to be proclaimed freely to all people. This new and unabridged edition of Thomas Erskine’s classic work has been fully and helpfully annotated. It includes an introduction to Thomas Erskine and his theology by the editor, Richard Leimbach, and a final chapter consisting of further readings from Erskine’s letters and books. The book will surely be a welcomed addition for anyone interested in the development of Christian theology in the early nineteenth century.

All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well. Lady Julian of Norwich Universalism runs like a slender thread through the history of Christian theology. It has always been a minority report and has often been regarded as heresy, but it has proven to be a surprisingly resilient idea. Over the centuries Christian universalism, in one form or another, has been reinvented time and time again. In this book an international team of scholars explore the diverse universalisms of Christian thinkers from the Origen to Moltmann. In the introduction Gregory MacDonald argues that theologies of universal salvation occupy a space between heresy and dogma. Therefore disagreements about whether all will be saved should not be thought of as debates between the orthodox and heretics but rather as in-house debates between Christians. The studies that follow aim, in the first instance, to hear, understand, and explain the eschatological claims of a range of Christians from the third to the twenty-first centuries. They also offer some constructive, critical engagement with those claims. Origen (Tom Greggs) Gregory of Nyssa (Steve Harmon) Julian of Norwich (Robert Sweetman) The Cambridge Platonists (Louise Hickman) James Relly (Wayne K. Clymer) Elhanan Winchester (Robin Parry) Friedrich Schleiermacher (Murray Rae) Thomas Erskine (Don Horrocks) George MacDonald (Thomas Talbott) P. T. Forsyth (Jason Goroncy) Sergius Bulgakov (Paul Gavrilyuk) Karl Barth (Oliver Crisp) Jaques Ellul (Andrew Goddard) J. A. T. Robinson (Trevor Hart) Hans Urs von Balthasar (Edward T. Oakes, SJ) John Hick (Lindsay Hall) Jÿrgen Moltmann (Nik Ansell)