Time&Eternity

110 chapter 2
ularly on the definition of the concept of relation, for the meaning of relation
becomes especially clear wherever relationship becomes problematic.
Relation can thus be understood precisely in light of its crisis. The most extreme
crisis of relation is death, as the event of a very special unrelatedness.
The essential nature of death is non-relationality or “relationlessness.” 371
“Death is the absolute other of being, an unimaginable other, hovering beyond
the reach of communication.” 372
In the following sections, various aspects of death will therefore be addressed
as they relate to time and eternity. I will proceed here from an understanding
of human life as a wealth of life relationships that are always in
process. With Jüngel, I hold that this non-negotiable relatedness does not
constitute an anthropological deficiency. Rather, it is the expression of the
true richness of human life: Human beings can live only in relationship;
they cannot relate to themselves without already and always being related to
others and, above all, to God. 373 Relation is thus understood as a positively
loaded word; non-relationality, on the other hand, is understood as a negatively
defined word.
The impulse toward non-relationality that terminates relationships in order to have
life, so to speak, as a private possession for oneself, .l.l. is the impulse toward death.
And death itself is the result of this impulse toward non-relationality: the event in
which even the last relation dissolves and even the last relationship collapses—
namely, the relation that I have with myself, self-relationship. 374
Death is therefore also the event in which the significance and meaning
of a relation between time and eternity occurs most succinctly. Every interpretation
of death is simultaneously an interpretation of the relation of time
and eternity. The following sections should show how modern conceptions
of death can illustrate the collapse of the relation of time and eternity that
was already observed in the first chapter of this study.
Death as Transition—Eternalized Time and Eroded Eternity
The Hebrew Scriptures say little about what can be expected after
death. They speak of sheol, the world of the dead, as a shadow world where
one does not praise God. 375 The hope for an individual eternal life is a
rather late phenomenon. 376 In the New Testament, the theme of resurrection
is discussed in light of Jesus’ resurrection. The experience of the Resurrection
of Jesus does not immediately trigger the individualistic interpretation
“if he, then also I.” Far more important was the fact that God did not
allow the shame of Jesus’ horrible death to persist. The Resurrection means
that God did justice. Luke presents this testimonial in Peter’s sermon at
Pentecost (Acts 2:22–36). It takes considerable theological reflection in or-