The Problem of Universal Salvation in the Theology of Emil Brunner Richard

This article examines the approach of the twentieth-century dialectical theologian, Emil Brunner (1889–1966), to the perennial theological problem of the possibility of universal salvation, a topic which has occupied the reflections of Christopher Morse, whose scholarship we honor in the present volume. Emil Brunner was Professor of Systematic and Practical Theology at the University of Zürich and an eminent and prolific theologian in his own right. However, although Brunner exerted considerably greater influence than Barth upon the contemporaneous North American theological scene,1 he is known today primarily for his dispute with Barth over the question of natural theology.2 In light of the fact that Brunner’s thought has been largely neglected since the 1930s, whereas the study of Karl Barth’s Church Dogmatics still represents a rite of passage in the context of theological formation, one often finds that where Brunner is mentioned at all, it is habitually in the context of Barth’s theology, and consequently Brunner’s own theology has generally been interpreted in the shadow of Barth’s titanic enterprise. Indeed, at certain points, Brunner himself lends credibility to this hermeneutical approach to his work.3 In the present article, however, I shall attempt to exposit Brunner’s position for itself, and not primarily in terms of its engagement with Barth.4 In this article, I shall first sketch the principal aspects of Augustine’s approach to the problem of universal salvation in order to provide a basic context for Brunner’s approach to the topic. I shall then outline Brunner’s approach to the problem, following which I shall remark both upon the ways in which Brunner’s solution can be understood as a development upon that of Augustine and upon some of the theological problems it raises.