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An Analysis of the Time-Eternity Relationship in the Theology of Hugh Ross Mackintosh, Emil Brunner, & Jurgen Moltmann

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An Analysis of the Time-Eternity Relationship in the Theology of Hugh Ross Mackintosh, Emil Brunner, & Jurgen Moltmann Redefining Time: An Analysis of the Time-Eternity Relationship in the Theology of Hugh Ross Mackintosh, Emil Brunner, & Jurgen Moltmann William G. Jones Doctor of Philosophy The University of Edinburgh 2006 Declaration of Authorship: In conjunction with regulations 3.8.7a-c of the University of Edinburgh Postgraduate handbook, I declare that I have composed this thesis entirely on my own and that no part of it has been submitted for any other degree or professio al qualification. ABSTRACT OF THESIS The twentieth century has been called the "century of eschatology" because this doctrine expanded to include many elements of theology that had previously been neglected as germane to "the end times." As a result of movements which began in the nineteenth century, all of contemporary theology has been "eschatologized" to the point where eschatology has become the instrumental hermeneutic through which all other theological motifs are interpreted. In particular, there has been a resurgence of philosophical, theological, and scientific inquiry into the concept of time and its ontological status in determining the nature of reality. This resurgence has led to significant implications for the definition of God's eternity. In this dissertation I examine the relationship between time and eternity in twentieth century Reformed eschatology by analyzing the work of three Reformed theologians who benefit from and inform their respective generations' understanding of eschatology. In the work of H. R. Mackintosh, Emil Brunner, and Jurgen Moltmann, one finds a redefmition of time as it relates to God's eternity. Each theologian strategically deals with the dominant legacies of Idealism and Materialism from the nineteenth century in defending the centrality of eschatological hope for Christian faith. Through their work, one understands why a contemporary eschatological interpretation of time departs from the traditional Boethian view of eternity as sheer timelessness in favor of a more comprehensive view of eternity as part of God's own being which God shares with creation. Thus, the theology of time has become a hotly-debated topic within eschatological discussions, focusing on the nature of God's eternity and the human experience of time. The debate over time and eternity also has repercussions for christology as all of Jesus' life is re-interpreted as an eschatological event which reveals God's will for the world. The Christ event is an act of eschatological revelation, and therefore doctrines which deal with the person and work of Christ are re-examined through the lens of the time-eternity relation. We see that twentieth century eschatology reshaped the understanding of time and eternity in that eternity is now understood to be a description of God's being which incorporates time. Eternity is descriptive of the quality of God's life rather than God's timelessness. For human beings, temporal life is marked by transience, change, and death, while eternal life characterizes living in the fullness of God's presence. As a result of faith, eternal life has begun now for human beings in a provisional way . We have also seen how the resurrection of Jesus was an eschatological event that ushered in the new eschatological eon for creation. The process of creation's transition from temporality to eternity began at the resurrection and will be completed at the consummation. Thus, Reformed eschatology now unites all of created reality, including space and time, to the person and work of Christ as he brings in the eschatological kingdom of God. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter One Redefining Time 1 Project Goal 1 Reality as "Tensed" 11 Placing Mackintosh, Brunner, and Moltmann within the Reformed Tradition 23 Chapter Two Redefining Time: The Present 64 The Eternity of God 65 The Human Experience of Time 89 Crucifixion, Suffering, and Eschatology 102 Chapter Three Redefining Time: The Past 120 The Creation of Time 121 The Lord of History 128 Incarnation, Time, and Eschatology 144 Chapter Four Redefining Time: The Future 176 The Problem of "The End" and the Parousia of Christ 177 Eschatological Judgment 197 Resurrection, Time, and the New Age 219 Conclusion Redefined Time 247 Bibliography 266 Chapter One Redefining Time: Project Goal God is eternal. This statement seems to be, on the surface, a simple declaration regarding one of God's attributes. It is one of the basic confessions of faith, drawn from the biblical witness of a God who is transcendent over all temporal creation. Jewish and Christian scriptures contain numerous ascriptions to a God who is above and beyond the parameters of time. Among them, Psalm 90 proclaims God's transcendence in that "before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God." Likewise, Isaiah 40 expresses faith in a God who surveys the passage of time from an eternal vantage point: "Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom." Hebrews 13 extols the endless continuity in Jesus Christ who "is the same yesterday and today and forever." Jesus himself incurs the wrath of many when he asserts in John 8 that "before Abraham was, I am."} Faith in God is always accompanied by a belief that the eternal God is transcendent above history and not subject to the passage of time in the same way that creatures are. Classical doctrinal statements regarding God link eternity with other attributes In order to describe God's absolute and unlimited life. Within the Reformed Tradition, when the Westminster Confession of Faith articulates its doctrine of God, it does so by assigning superlative characteristics to the God who is the opposite of humanity, so that God is "infinite in being and perfection, a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions, immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, 1 Other important passages regarding God's transcendence over time include Genesis 1: 1; Proverbs 8:22-30; Isaiah 43:10; Isaiah 57:15; Malachi 3:6; John 1:1-3; Colossians 1:17; James 1:17; 1 Peter 1:20; and 2 Peter 3:8. 1 almighty, most wise, most holy, most free, most absolute.,,2 Such statements of God's transcendent being are echoed throughout history as the church links God's eternity to an infinite existence void of any change. Scratching just below the surface of this seemingly simple belief in God's eternity, however, reveals many complexities in modem theology concerning what it means to ascribe the concept of eternity to God, mainly how eternity and time are related. In his eternity is God completely void of time and therefore timeless, or is eternity an endless duration of time and therefore temporal? To claim that God is "everlasting" and without beginning or end does not answer the question, and proponents of both divine temporality and divine timelessness mount impressive arguments based on many of the same scriptural references.3 Indeed, the task of defining of God's relationship to time is obscured by the abundance of biblical passages that, taken together, lack a unified definition of either time or eternity.4 Consequently, James Barr has noted that "if such a thing as a Christian doctrine of time has to be developed, the work of discussing it and developing it must belong not to biblical but to philosophical theology."s To be sure, inquiring into the meaning of the eternal God's relation to temporality raises numerous philosophical and theological questions. If God's being eternal means that God is completely timeless, then are all measurements of time irrelevant when applied to God? What is the composition and meaning of history, the "progress" of time, if God is timeless? Are all moments in time simultaneously present to God, and if they are, then is not every moment predetermined by God without any possible alternatives? Does being eternal 2 "The Westminster Confession of Faith," in The Constitution a/the Presbyterian Church: Part 1, Book a/Confessions (Louisville, KY: Office ofthe General Assembly, 1996),6.011. 3 Alan G. Padgett, God, Eternity, and the Nature a/Time (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992), chp. 2. 4 Paul Helm, Eternal God (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988),5-11. 5 James Barr, Biblical Words for Time (London: SCM Press, 1962), 149. 2 necessarily mean that God is immutable and cannot expenence any changes in relation to creatures? Can an immutable and impassable God really be the personal God who sustains creation, who reveals himself to the men and women he loves, and who calls Israel and the church into being? Since God creates and interacts with temporal creatures, which surely God does according to the Bible, then is not God affected by changes in such a way that renders God temporal as well? Saying that God is eternal is no simple utterance, and it quickly raises many implications for theology and faith. The subjects of time and eternity, consequently, have been prominent areas of study in the history of Christian theology, and the last one hundred years in particular have seen a resurgence of theological inquiry into the idea that God is eternal. In an insightful essay that analyzes the resurgence of eschatology in twentieth century theology, Christoph Schwabel claims that "when one looks back on the history of theological thought in the twentieth century one cannot avoid the impression that it could correctly be called the century of eschatology.,,6 Schwabel makes this claim by carefully tracing several key developments which increased the scope of eschatology for theology, and he helpfully identifies particular areas of eschatological thought where unique contributions were made to strengthen and expand eschatology's significance for theology as a whole.
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