to his former place." Early Christianity According to Edward Beecher and George T. Knight, in the first 600 years of Christian history there were six main theological schools on hell: four of them were universalist, one taught annihilationism and the last taught endless torment. Many early Church Fathers have been quoted as either embracing or hoping for the ultimate reconciliation of God with His creation. The concept of a final restoration of all souls particularly had large appeal in the East during the fourth and fifth centuries. Alexandria The most important school of Universalist thought was the Didascalium in Alexandria, Egypt, which was founded by Saint Pantaenus in about 190. Alexandria was the centre of learning and intellectual discourse in the ancient Mediterranean world, and it was the theological centre of gravity of Christianity prior to the rise of the Roman Church. Clement of Alexandria (c. 150 – c. 215) The Universalists Hosea Ballou (1829), Thomas Whittemore (1830), John Wesley Hanson (1899) and George T. Knight (1911) claimed that Clement of Alexandria expressed universalist positions in early Christianity. Such claims have always been controversial. Some scholars believe that Clement used the term apocatastasis to refer primarily to the restoration of a select few, but with universal implications. Brian E. Daley writes that Clement viewed "punishment after death as a medicinal and therefore temporary measure" and that he suggested "with great caution the related prospect of universal salvation for all intelligent creatures", for example in his Stromateis, Book VII, Chapter 2. Origen (c. 185 – 254) According to Daley, Origen was firmly convinced that "all human souls will ultimately be saved" and "united to God forever in loving contemplation" and that this is "an indispensable part of the “end” promised by Paul in I Cor 15.24–28." Daley also notes that Origen sometimes called this final state of universal salvation ἀποκατάστασις and suggested it was already a familiar concept to his readers. Fredrick W. Norris maintained, however, that Origen may not have strongly believed in universal reconciliation at all. In an article on apocatastasis in The Westminster handbook to Origen (2004) he wrote, "As far as we can tell, therefore, Origen never decided to stress exclusive salvation or universal salvation, to the strict exclusion of either case." Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335 – 390s) Gregory of Nyssa, who was declared "the father of fathers" by the Seventh Ecumenical Council, is interpreted by