Charles Lutwidge Dodgson’s ‘Eternal Punishment’

A Study of the theological paper by the author of The Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Abstract

The debate concerning ‘Eternal Punishment’ developed in the 1830s, with most of the debates occurring between 1840 and 1914. Among the various theological problems with which churchmen struggled, ‘Eternal Punishment’ was a primary issue.

During the debates very many clergymen such as Edward Bouverie Pusey, Francis Paget, and Frederic William Farrar had written treatises on ‘Eternal Punishment’ or ‘Everlasting Punishment’.

While Charles Lutwidge Dodgson [Lewis Carroll] was a fellow of the University of Oxford, the discussions continued throughout Britain. He procured ammunition for the argument and participated by publishing his essay ‘Eternal Punishment’. In the paper, he examined the term ‘αἰών’, and he concluded the original Greek word αἰών did not connote ‘eternal’ or ‘everlasting’, but ‘limited time’.

　In this essay, I shall outline the Eternal Punishment debate as it appears in some theological papers and tracts, and I intend to look at how to evaluate Dodgson’s opinion that ‘Eternal Punishment’ could not be signified as ‘eternal’.