have also argued that suffering of sinners in hell or hell-like states will be long but still limited, not eternal. However, liberal and progressive Christians have often argued that the teachings of the historical Jesus did not mention exclusive salvation for a select few and have altogether rejected many sections of the Bible written by figures decades after the life of Jesus as man-made inventions that are to be taken with a grain of salt. While not being a universalist per se, influential Christian philosopher Karl Barth, often regarded as the greatest Protestant theologian of the twentieth century, spoke for a great deal of broadly traditional Christians when he wrote that salvation is centrally Christological. He asserted that in Jesus Christ, the reconciliation of all of mankind to God has essentially already taken place and that through Christ man is already elect and justified. Therefore, eternal salvation for everyone, even those that reject God, is a possibility that is more than an open question but should be hoped for by Christians as a matter of grace. Responses One recurrent objection to universalism made by many has been that having a deep-rooted belief in eternal torment as a possibility is a necessary deterrent from living an immoral life. Universalists have often responded that punishments for sin can function well without being eternal, especially in the afterlife when one can face severe treatment first before one eventually gets to heaven. History In 1978, Biblical scholar Richard Bauckham offered an academic survey of the history of universal salvation. He outlined the history thus: However, eternal punishment did not appear in official creeds until the pseudo-Athanasian Creed in the late 5th century, when all admit that endless hell's popularity was on the rise. Contrary to Bauckham, it is unknown which view (of endless hell, annihilation, or correctional hell) was most prevalent in the early Church. The doctrine of endless torment does not seem to have been as indispensable to Christian belief back then as, for example, the Trinity and Incarnation. That is shown by the early 5th century statements of St. Augustine of Hippo, a most formidable advocate of the endless hell view, who admitted that "very many" Christians saw hell as correctional and temporary and who considered his argument with them an "amicable controversy." St. Jerome attested around the same time that "many" believed that even the devil "will repent and be restored