Time&Eternity

Aspects of a Theology of Time 191
standing of God than with an absolute understanding. If the physical theories
adequately describe the basic structures of reality, then the statement—
that no complete dissimilarity of the basic structures of creation and Creator
exists—can be considered theologically rational. If what I found to be
essential features in the formation of modern theories of physics agrees with
reality, i.e., if 1) a relative concept of time, 2) the problems of distinguishing
between subject and object, 3) the dynamics between observer and the observed,
as well as 4) the description of the development of dynamic systems
far from equilibrium are appropriate descriptions of reality, then an interpretation
of the concept of God as a relational fellowship corresponds more
closely to this description of reality.
From this starting point, I think it makes sense to present some further
concepts of Trinitarian theology that go beyond our treatment in the second
chapter and to the understanding of which our findings in the third chapter
contribute substantially. 28 These concepts share a tendency to move from
the metaphysical notion of a divine substance or nature toward a relationally
constituted conception of God. The latter cannot avoid thinking also in
the direction of God’s temporality.
Unity, Diversity, and Alterity
Both Kevin J. Vanhoozer and Colin Gunton formulate their Trinitarian
reflections within the problem field of unity and diversity. Both are concerned
with conceiving of relationality and alterity. In the background is
their concern that neither modernism nor postmodernism has succeeded in
actually affirming alterity. Where modernism constantly tries to constrict
the Other into uniform, objectivizing correspondence, postmodernism
negates the Other by its refusal to differentiate, so that even here, the final
result is equalization. Relativism without differentiation cannot provide a
solution. The counterpart, also called “foundationalism,” is a misstep inasmuch
as this position—in a kind of intellectual Pelagianism—thinks that it
can establish a universally valid, eternal truth exclusively through the efforts
of human rational activities. 29 Vanhoozer wants to make the doctrine of the
Trinity useful for a theology of religion by attempting to show that an identity
of God that is understood to be Trinitarian enables both exclusivistic, as
well as pluralistic and inclusivistic, thinking. If the Trinity is made the transcendent
condition of interreligious dialogue, then, Vanhoozer says, there is
no danger of reducing the Other to the “same.” 30 Gavin D’Costa thinks
similarly when—following, among others, Lévinas and Derrida—he attempts
to create an open eschatological and Trinitarian inclusivism. With
the aid of this, he thinks that it is possible to have a theology that does not