Apokatastasis: Four Meditationseverlasting Kingdom. I do not think this is true, but for the
sake of the argument let us suppose it is so. But eternal tor-
ments, final dereliction? Here the price is raised beyond any
calculus of relative goods, and into the realm of absolute-of
infinite- expenditure.
The arithmetic, moreover, is fairly inflexible. We need not
imagine, in traditional fashion, that the legions of the damned
will far outnumber the cozy company of the saved. Let us
imagine instead that only one soul will perish eternally, and all
others enter into the peace of the Kingdom. Nor need we think
of that soul as guiltless, like Vanya's helpless child, or even as
mildly sympathetic. Let it be someone utterly despicable- say,
Hitler. Even then, no matter how we understand the fate of
that single wretched soul in relation to God's intentions, no
account of the divine decision to create out of nothingness
can make its propriety morally intelligible. This is obvious, of
course, in predestinarian systems, since from their bleak per-
spective, manifestly, that poor, ridiculous, but tragically con-
scious puppet who has been consigned to the abyss exists for
no other purpose than the ghastly spectacle of divine sover-
eignty. But, then, for the redeemed, each of whom might just
as well have been denied efficacious grace had God so pleased
(since no one merits salvation), who is that wretch who en-
dures God's final wrath, forever and ever, other than their sur-
rogate, their redeemer, the one who suffers in their stead-
their Christ? For what it is worth, I for one do not object in the
least to Hitler being purged of his sins and saved, over however
many aeons of inconceivably painful purification in hell that
might take, but I do most definitely object to Hitler fixed for-
ever in his sins serving as my redeemer in some shadow eter-
nity of perpetual torment, offering up his screams of agony as
the price of my hope for salvation. The very thought reduces all