Richard William Jelf

Richard William Jelf (1798-1871) was an Anglican clergyman and academic who became a canon of Christ Church, Oxford, in 1830 and served as principal of King's College London from 1844 to 1868. A defender of the received doctrine of endless punishment, he challenged F. D. Maurice after the publication of Maurice's Theological Essays in 1853, and their printed correspondence over the meaning of the word "eternal" ended with the college council removing Maurice from his professorship. The exchange became a central episode in the Victorian controversy over the duration of future punishment.

The letter that cost Frederick Denison Maurice his chair at King's College, London. Replying to Dr. Jelf, Maurice argued that 'eternal' in scripture names a quality — the knowledge of God — not endless clock-time, and that the popular doctrine of everlasting torment slanders the divine character. His dismissal for these pages scandalized England and opened the door through which Farrar, Plumptre, and Allin (all in this collection) later walked.

(Note: this summary was automatically generated and may be inaccurate.)