Christ and Horrors, Part 3: Horror Defeat, Universalism, and God's Reputation

Continuing our review of Marilyn McCord Adams' Christ and Horrors. Again, in this series I'm picking and choosing aspects of Adams' work that are of particular interest for this blog. I'm leaving tons on the the table, much of which would be of interest to theologians. So, please get Christ and Horrors and read the book for yourself. This series is mainly intended to pique your curiosity.

In my first post we noted that Adams links horrors to our existential ability to create meaning out of our experiences. Horrors defeat this ability. That is, when exposed to ruinous abuse, disease, or pain we simply cannot find "the point." We cannot make "sense" of the horrific situation. The horror overwhelms our capacity to weave the experience into a coherent and positive narrative.

In my last post I outlined Adams' three stages of horror defeat. Recall, in Stage 1 God joins us in the midst of horror allowing for the possibility of meaning creation. However, if we are volitionally ruined this possibility is never actualized. Thus, in Stage 2 God works internally and externally to build our meaning-making capacities. Finally, in Stage 3 horrors are brought to an end.

As we examine this framework it has probably dawned on you that, although Stage 1 horror defeat has already occurred, Stages 2 and 3 are yet to be for most persons. That is, many people die in the grip of horror and fail to make horrors personally meaningful. This may be due to volitional ruin, but it can also be due to the fact that the horror involves a person's death. In short, Stage 2 horror defeat will not occur for every person prior to their mortal death. Thus, if horror defeat is on the agenda of God His efforts to defeat horror for every person implies universal salvation. As Adams' claims (p. 51): "I insist, God will be good-to each created person by weaving up any horror-participation into an unending relationship of beatific intimacy with God. In my judgment, grim realism is not inappropriately derogatory of human dignity, but rather serves to magnify the miracle of God's making good on God's cosmic project by benefiting each and every human being. (And, yes, my focus on horrors does drive me to a doctrine of universal salvation!)."

The "grim realism" is Adams' claim about volitional ruin noted in my last post: We must be realistic, grimly realistic, that human agency cannot overcome horrors by imbuing them with meaning. And if this is the case it necessarily implies that God must extend his salvific work post-mortem to bring horror defeat to every created person.

Stage 2 and Stage 3 horror defeat, for Adams, implies the union of subjective and objective horror defeat. That is, in Stage 3 horrors are objectively defeated: And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!"

But for horrors to be completely defeated a subjective component must also be realized. That is, it is not good enough for horrors to be objectively defeated in the Eschaton. Horrors must be defeated subjectively, within the experience of each horror participant and victim. And it is this defeat of subjective horrors that demands God's post-mortem intervention.

Again, I think this is a critical insight from Adams. Too often in theodicy discussions only Stage 1 (Divine participation) and Stage 3 (objective horror defeat in the Eschaton) get discussed. And, to be frank, that just isn't good enough. Stage 2 defeat (the subjective defeat of horror for every horror victim) must be a part of the package. God owes it to those very particular individuals. And it is this particular debt that cannot, for many persons, be realized in this life.

This is not to say that many believers are not already experiencing Stage 2 horror defeat right here and right now. I see it every week in my church. People are undergoing horrific things in my church. Death of children, trauma, abuse, addictions, disease. And weekly we hear testimonies of God's faithfulness. These saints, via the grace of God, can find meaning in the horror. And many, although never wishing to go through the same experience again, would not trade in their horror for the union it created between them and God. These are amazing testimonies. Evidence that God is making good on his Stage 1 horror defeat as evidenced in the Incarnation. God is, truly, with us.

But, grimly we must remember, these testimonies are unique and rare. Most die struggling toward Stage 2 horror defeat. God might be glimpsed and sought for in those hospital rooms, therapy offices, or killing fields, but people are ruined by their experiences of horror. For them the work of God must continue after death so that horror defeat is brought to all. As Adams says (p. 207): "Nevertheless, for an omniscient, omnipotent, and perfectly good God, a future just society isn't good enough. What about the countless individuals sacrificed on the slaughter-bench of history? An omniscient and omnipotent God Who loved human beings would make it up to them, would guarantee that there was enough positive meaning in it to defeat their horror-participation and make their lives great goods to them on the whole and in the end!"

Obviously, this vision demands that we rethink traditional notions of hell. As readers of this blog know, I'm good with that. In one of my favorites passages from Christ and Horrors Adams says this (p. 229-230, emphases hers):

"Traditional doctrines of hell err again by supposing either that God does not get what God wants with every human being ("God wills all humans to be saved" by God's antecedent will) or that God deliberately creates some for ruin. To be sure, many human beings have conducted their ante-mortem lives in such a way as to become anti-social persons. Almost none of us dies with all the virtues needed to be fit for heaven. Traditional doctrines of hell suppose that God lacks the will or the patience or the resourcefulness to civilize each and all of us, to rear each and all of us up into the household of God. They conclude that God is left with the option of merely human penal systems--viz., liquidation or quarantine!

Traditional doctrines of hell go beyond failure to hatred and cruelty by imagining a God Who not only acquiesces in creaturely rebellion and dysfunction but either directly organizes or intentionally "outsources" a concentration camp (of which Auschwitz and Soviet gulags are pale imitations) to make sure some creatures' lives are permanently deprived of positive meaning.

My own view is that ante-mortem horror-participation is hell enough. Horrors constitute the prima facie destruction of the positive meaning of our lives; a destruction that we lack knowledge, power, or worth enough to defeat; a destruction that reasonably drives many to despair. For God to succeed, God has to defeat horrors for everyone. We have all been to hell by being tainted by horrors ante-mortem. We all meet the horror of death at the end. For some, life has been one horror after another between the dawn of personhood and the grave. In millions of cases, these horrors have been spawned by the systemic evils of human societies. To be good-to us, God will have to establish and fit us for wholesome society, not establish institutions to guarantee that horrors last forever in the world to come!"

Ante-mortem horror-participation is hell enough! Yet again let me just say how much I think Adams "get's it"!

Let me conclude with a brief comment on unviersalism. Most people think that universalism is a soteriological move. That people believe in the idea because universalists just want "everyone to get to go to heaven." But for me, and apparently for Adams, the universalist move is rather a theodicy move. That is, I believe in universalism not because I'm concerned about Me and You and Our Eternal Destination. Truly, I don't worry about that very much at all. No, I'm a universalist not because I'm concerned about Us but because I'm concerned about God. Specifically, I'm concerned about God's reputation. God made us radically vulnerable to horrors. He had his reasons for this. But whatever those reasons were, God's reputation for love and goodness demands that he defeat horrors. And, as Adams correctly and courageously notes, this implies newer, fresher notions of post-mortem ontology and existence.