Featuring a Foreword by Bradley Jersak and Afterword by David Bentley Hart

“This is a book that many of us have been waiting for for a long time . . . Enthusiastically recommended!” (Robin A. Parry, Ph.D., Anglican priest, editor, and author of The Evangelical Universalist)

Destined for Joy is a collection of essays devoted to the theme of the absolute love of God and the gospel of universal salvation. Written over a period of 10 years and revised for publication in this volume, they represent the fruition of the author’s theological and spiritual development over a span of four decades in parish ministry. If God has truly revealed himself in his incarnate Son Jesus Christ as absolute and unconditional love, does this not mean that he intends the salvation of all? As Jesus declared to Dame Julian of Norwich: “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.”

Many listeners will be surprised to discover that hope for universal salvation was widely prevalent in the early Church and is robustly defended today in the writings of theologians across the theological spectrum. In this extraordinary collection, Alvin F. Kimel discusses the works of the 7th century mystic St Isaac the Syrian and 14th century mystic Julian of Norwich, the 19th century writer George MacDonald, Lutheran theologians Robert W. Jenson and Gerhard Forde, evangelical philosopher Thomas Talbott, and Eastern Orthodox theologians Sergius Bulgakov and David Bentley Hart, to name just a few of many. It’s an indispensable resource for anyone interested in understanding the doctrine of universal salvation.

"Al Kimel puts brilliantly the argument for full Christianity that has too rarely been made in the past." (John Milbank, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Theology and Religious Studies, University of Nottingham and author of numerous books and essays, including Theology and Social Theory, Being Reconciled, and The Suspended Middle)