Tervetuloa! Welcome!

TOIVO
            HOPE

Entä jos kaikki käy lopulta hyvin?
What if all shall be well?

Kaikki sessioiden videot pysyvästi täällä: 
All the videos of the sessions are permanently available here:

youtube.com/toivohope

Kaikille avoin kansainvälinen seminaari.
Interentissä ja Aleksanterin teatterissa, Helsingissä pe-la 9.-10.10.2020. Lisäksi videoita ennen ja jälkeen seminaarin.

HOPE

What if all shall be well?

An International Conference Open for All.
Online and in the Alexander Theatre in Helsinki, Finland on October 9-10, A.D. 2020. And to be continued e.g. with a Q&A with the international speakers!

Seminaari järjestettiin Kari Tikan uuden oopperan Rakkaus on väkevä kuin kuolema -oopperan yhteydessä (ensi-ilta 8.10.2020).

The conference was arranged in conjunction with Kari Tikka's new opera Love is Strong as Death (premier on October 8, 2020). More info on the Opera. Libretto (text) in English.

A Podcast about Christianity and Universal Salvation

If you are interested in the relationship between Christianity and universal salvation, I recommend this new podcast: Grace Saves All: Christianity and Universal Salvation, with David Artman. Several of the speakers of this Hope conference (including Brad Jersak, Peter Hiett, Georges Sarris, Petri Tikka) are featured. Here are podcasts which feature me (the chairperson of the Hope conference):

Ep. 44 Petri Tikka from Helsinki, Finland on Being a Lutheran Pastor and a Christian Universalis‪t 

Ep. 45 Petri Tikka on Proclaiming the Gospel from a Christian Universalist Perspectiv‪e

(Jos olet ‬suomea ymmärtävä, suosittelen Markus Finnilän "Harhaoppia"-podcastin jaksoa, vaikka kyse ei olekaan harhaopista.)

Conference Papers + Moltmann's Greeting

Below you can find the contents of the speeches that were held in English in text form. For the videos, go to: youtube.com/toivohope

Peter Hiett: "Our Story and Our Hope" | + summary

Brad Jersak: "Daring to Hope: Ulimate Redemption in the Sacred Scriptures, Theology and Worship of the Early Church" (powerpoint)

Robin Parry: "The roles of Scripture, tradition, reason, and experience in journeys towards embracing universalism: An historical exploration of diversity in lived Christian experience"

Ilaria Ramelli: "Why Was Gregory of Nyssa Never Condemned? Among the Many Followers of Origen: Isaac of Niniveh and Julian of Norwich"

George Sarris: "Passages on Divine Judgment and Hope in the Bible"

In addition, here is Jürgen Moltmann's greeting for the conference: 

Greetings from me and Blessings from God
for your conference on Universal Salvation.

Universalism can be a very hot question between Christian groups: The ones are condemned for universalism and the others are despised for particularism.
If you start with the faith of believers you end up in dividing. Humanity in believers and unbelievers
the believers go to heaven and the unbelievers go to hell.
If you start withe grace of God every limitation or condition
would be a contradiction.
I am curious which solution your conference is finding.

Yet there is still another perspective in „Universal Salvation“:
the universe, the cosmos, die Welt.
With his resurrection Christ became the head of the cosmos: anakephalaiosis Ton Panton (Eph 1, 10).
We don`t live in a hostile world,
but in reconciled cosmos (2 Cor 5, 19).
Universal Salvation gives us hope for the world.
Will you discuss the cosmic Christ as well in your conference? 
I wish theological courage and humility.

Toivo-seminaarin alkupuhe: Mitä on kaikkien pelastuminen?

 

Tervetuloa Toivo-seminaariin!

Minun nimeni on Petri Samuel Tikka. Olen järjestämässä tätä seminaaria yhdessä Kotimaa-lehden, isäni, kapellimestari-säveltäjä Kari Tikan sekä akateemisen toimikunnan kanssa. Seminaari on ekumeeninen ja kansainvälinen: näkökulmia tulee anglikaanisesta, evankelikaalisesta, katolisesta, luterilaisesta, ortodoksisesta ja reformoidusta teologisista perinteistä asian arvostetuimmilta tutkijoilta.

Näkökulma toivoon on koko ihmiskuntaa ja luomakuntaa koskeva toivo. Se perustellaan kristinuskon lähtökohdista käsin. Kyseessä on varhaiskirkollinen oppi tai käsitys Kristuksesta kaikkien Pelastajana. Pelastus koskee kaikkia koskaan eläneitä ihmisiä. Aiheen perinteisin nimi on apokatastasis-oppi eli kaiken ennalleen asettaminen. Oppina se tunnetaan kaikkien pelastumisena eli universaalina pelastuksena. Joskus sitä nimitetään myös kristilliseksi universalismiksi – tosin viimeinen termi on kiistelty ja harhaanjohtavakin. Kristillisen universalismin mukaan Kristus on ainoa tie taivaaseen ja kaikki saavat uskon häneen. Kuitenkin pelkällä ”universalismilla” tarkoitetaan yleensä ajatusta, jonka mukaan kaikki pääsevät taivaaseen uskosta riippumatta.

Brad Jersak: "Unwrathing God" - Nonviolent Atonement, Eschatology & Practice | Jumala ei vihaa: väkivallaton sovitus, eskatologia ja käytäntö

 

This is a pre-conference talk from Dr. Brad Jersak. 

Hope Conference Discount on Wipf & Stock Books

Robin Parry, one of the speakers in the Hope conference, is a theological editor for Wipf and Stock Publishers. He has kindly provided anyone interested in the conference an opportunity to acquire very good and relevant books on hopeful theology for a considerable discount. You can purchase any of the titles mentioned below at a 40 % discount. Email your order to orders@wipfandstock.com and reference the coupon code "HOPEFUL". Offer expires by the end of October 2020. 

You can find links to the discounted books below for more info. I have marked the books involving speakers in the conference with an asterisk (*). All of the books are very relevant, but as an introduction to the subject of Universal Salvation, I would especially recommend Thomas Talbott's book The Inescapable Love of God. Or, alternatively, The Evangelical Universalist by Robin Parry. For a historical look at Christian universalism, I would recommend "All Shall Be Well" (edited by Robin Parry) or both of the two volumes of A Larger Hope? (by Ilaria Ramelli and Robin Parry). 

Petri Tikka, conference host

Lyhyet tiivistelmät | Short summaries

Lisäämme tähän esitelmien lyhyitä tiivistelmiä pikku hiljaa. Pidemmät tiivistelmät ovat saatavilla seminaarin tapahtuessa. / We will add short summaries of the speeches here as we receive them. Longer summaries will be available during the conference.

Brad Jersak & Robin Parry

Here is some academic, as well as more personal information about two of the international speakers in the conference (originally posted on our Facebook page). They will tell about their academic highlights in the field of eschatology (theology of the final things). They will also give some personal reasons why studying hope is important to them. 

Tässä sekä akateemista että henkilökohtaisempaa tietoa kahdesta kansainvälisestä puhujasta (suomeksi englannin jälkeen).