Abstract
In her eschatology, Antje Jackelén labors to repudiate dualism between time and eternity. Eternity is not merely timelessness, she argues. Rather, eternity consists of multi-layered time, wherein the present time is influenced by our hope in God’s promised future. In this Festschrift chapter, I explicate the Jackelén eschatological vision while offering an expanded commentary on its value for the ongoing creative mutual interaction between science and theology, especially cosmology and eschatology. More specifically, I show that open trinitarian theism affirms that the temporal created world is taken up into the divine eternity. Time lodges in eternity, while eternity enters time proleptically. History counts within God’s trinitarian life. What happens within time has eternal ramifications when eschatology is thought to point to fulfillment, to consummation, to redemption.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Wolfhart Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, tr. by Geoffrey W. Bromily, 3 Volumes (Grand Rapids MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1991–1998) 1:410; hereinafter abbreviated, ST.
- 2.
Jackelén is critical of my own trinitarian approach to eschatology. “Peters’ Trinity instead resembles a duality that is held together by the Spirit as a connecting link, a difficulty that Peters shares with all approaches that allocate to the Spirit the role of the unifier within the Trinity.” Jackelén, Time and Eternity, 197. I would like to respond with two comments. First, I do not believe I hold to the dualism between time and eternity she describes. Rather, I see my position as close to the one which Jackelén herself holds. Second, I admit that I follow Augustine along with Athanasius and Pannenberg on the Trinity: the Father and Son mutually differentiate and define each other as divine, while the Holy Spirit constitutes the love that binds them.
- 3.
For a detailed tracking of this Trinity Talk rising out of CTNS in Berkeley, California, see: Ted Peters, God as Trinity (Louisville KY: Westminster John Knox, 1993) and the important work by Robert John Russell, Time in Eternity: Pannenberg, Physics, and Eschatology in Creative Mutual Interaction (Notre Dame IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2013). Perhaps the newest voice in Trinity Talk is the work of Ernest L. Simmons, The Entangled Trinity: Quantum Physics and Theology (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2013).
- 4.
Karl Rahner, The Trinity (New York: Herder and Herder, 1970) 21–22. Both Roger E. Olson and I employ this term, Rahner’s Rule, to describe the position taken by Rahner and subsequently adopted by other members of this school of thought. My introduction of the term began in the “Trinity Talk” series for Dialog 26:1 (Winter 1987) 44-48, and 26:2 (Spring 1987) 133–138.
- 5.
Rahner’s Rule does not require a total collapse of immanent and economic Trinity; but it does require continuity in revelation and divine action. “Even though we must finally distinguish between the immanent Trinity and the economic Trinity,” writes Pannenberg, “because God in his essence is the same as he is in his revelation, and is to be viewed as no less distinct from his revelation than identical with it, nevertheless, the unity of the trinitarian God cannot be seen in detachment from his revelation and his related work in the world in the economy of salvation.” ST, 1:32; see: 1:62–64; 325.
- 6.
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, 1A. 10a. 2 ad 3.
- 7.
Ted Peters, God–The World’s Future (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 3rd ed., 2015).
References
Aquinas, Thomas. 1947. Summa theologiae. Christian Classics Ethereal Library. http://www.ccel.org/ccel/aquinas/summa.toc.html
Barth, Karl. 1936–1962. Church dogmatics, 4 vols. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark.
Boethius. 2004. Consolation of philosophy. Project Gutenberg eBook, http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14328/14328-h/14328-h.htm
Jackelén, Antje. 2005. Time and eternity: The question of time in church, science, and theology. Philadelphia/London: Templeton Foundation Press.
LaCugna, Catherine Mowry. 1991. God for us: The Trinity and Christian life. New York: Harper.
Moltmann, Jürgen. 1985. God in creation: The Gifford lectures 1984–1985. San Francisco: Harper.
Moltmann, Jürgen. 1996. The coming of God: Christian eschatology. Minneapolis: Fortress.
Pannenberg, Wolfhart. 1969. Theology and the kingdom of God, ed. Richard John Neuhaus, Louisville: Westminster John Knox.
Pannenberg, Wolfhart. 1991. Systematic Theology, 3 vols. Trans. Geoffrey W. Bromily. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans.
Peters, Ted. 1993. God as trinity. Louisville: Westminster John Knox.
Peters, Ted. 2015. God–The world’s future. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.
Rahner, Karl. 1970. The trinity. New York: Herder and Herder.
Russell, Robert John. 2008. Cosmology from alpha to omega. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.
Russell, Robert John. 2013. Time in eternity: Pannenberg, physics, and eschatology in creative mutual interaction. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.
Schleiermacher, Friedrich. 1928. The Christian Faith. Trans. H.R. Mackintosh and J.S. Stewart. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark.
Simmons, Ernest L. 2013. The entangled trinity: Quantum physics and theology. Minneapolis: Fortress.
Wright, N.T. 2003. The resurrection of the son of God, Christian origins and the question of god, vol. III. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Peters, T. (2016). Time in Eternity and Eternity in Time. In: Baldwin, J. (eds) Embracing the Ivory Tower and Stained Glass Windows. Issues in Science and Religion: Publications of the European Society for the Study of Science and Theology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23944-6_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23944-6_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-23942-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-23944-6
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyPhilosophy and Religion (R0)