Christian universalism is a school of Christian theology focused around the doctrine of
universal reconciliation – the view that all human beings will ultimately
be saved and redeemed to a right relationship with God. "Christian universalism" and "the
belief or hope in the universal reconciliation through Christ" can be
understood as synonyms. Opponents of this school, who hold that
eternal damnation is the ultimate fate of some or
most people, are sometimes called "internalist."
The term Christian
universalism was used in the Christian Intelligencer in the
1820s by Russell Streeter—a descendant of Adams Streeter who had
founded one of the first Universalist Churches on September 14, 1785. Some Christian
universalists claim that in Early Christianity (prior to the 6th century), this was the most common interpretation of Christianity.
As a formal Christian denomination, Christian
universalism originated in the late 18th century with the Universalist Church of America. There is no single
denomination uniting Christian universalists, but a few denominations teach
some of the principles of Christian universalism or are open to them. Instead,
their membership has been consolidated with the American Unitarian Association into the Unitarian Universalist
Association in 1961