Time&Eternity

Biblical and Theological Conceptions of Time 97
old and new time. Upon closer examination, it is also evident that one cannot
really expect anything genuinely new in his eschatology, because, ultimately,
nothing is newly created. Instead, that which has always existed is
restored, something that brings to mind the return of eternal ideas to their
timeless source rather than a new heaven and a new earth: “The resurrection
of the dead and the renewal of creation may be seen as the act by which
God through his spirit, restores to the creatures’ essence that is preserved in
his eternity the form of being-for-themselves.” 282 Inspired by Pannenberg’s frequent
use of the term future, one had hoped that the eschatological distinction
between old and new time would have rendered the relation of time
and eternity in Pannenberg’s theology more dynamic. It seems, however,
that the dynamic hoped for has been eclipsed by a rather conservatively oriented
constancy of essence.
Models based on the distinction between old and new times probably
often fail because of their difficulty in accounting for the concept of eternity.
Is in this scheme eternity being replaced by the new time? Will it be absorbed
by the concept of future? The answer to these questions depends,
first, upon whether the eschatological difference excludes, includes, or even
surpasses the ontological difference, and, second, upon how successful one
is in taking seriously the specificity of the time that is qualified as old time
even after the new time has dawned.
The ontological differentiation is included in the eschatological one to
the extent that the coming of new time is not a penetration of two ontological
spheres, but is instead an interaction that does not destroy the respective
character of the interacting entities but strengthens it. Through the
breakthrough of new time, old and new times are essentially linked to each
other and related to each other, although they remain different from each
other. This is the relationship of tension described with the words “already”
and “not-yet.”
God, Time, and Eternity—
Trinitarian Perspectives
The attempt to describe the relationship of time to eternity theologically
must also consider the question of the understanding of God. As soon as
one is concerned not only with the that of the distinction between time and
eternity, but rather with the how of the relationship of time and eternity,
then one cannot deal only with the that of a concept of God. If time and
eternity are distinguished from each other and if God relates to both of
them, then the question also arises regarding a differentiation in this divine
relationship, because every relationship implies differentiation. I am thus
confronted with the question of how God’s relationship to eternity is differ-