Time&Eternity

72 chapter 2
human society. 71 Thus, Old Testament eschatology says almost more about
space than about time, and more about the past and present than about the
future, since it tells about the present and past by selecting the language and
images from the past that most closely approach the anticipated ideal. 72 It
would be erroneous, however, to pit time against space in this context. Eschatological
space and eschatological time are more appropriately classified
as being relative to each other.
Regarding the various aspects of the concept of time, it is an improper
stricture to claim one perspective at the expense of the Other. Rather, each
model is to be seen as a complement to the Other. The tension between the
God who has come and the God who is coming, between past and present
orientations, must be considered constitutive. It will also accompany us in
our explorations of “time” in the New Testament.
Time in the New Testament
The Greek Frame of Reference
The New Testament concept of time is often portrayed against the backdrop
of the Greek understanding of time. 73 Prominent here is the evaluation
of the eternal—based on Parmenides and Zeno—as the true, 74 and the
temporal as having an ontological deficit. Without true being, time is merely
onoma, a concept set forth by human beings; yet people are dependent
upon its actuality. 75 Mere becoming is hopelessly inferior to immutable being.
If time is conceived in a Platonic sense, as a moving image of eternity,
i.e., an image that is eternal but moving according to number, while eternity
itself rests in unity, 76 then a cyclical concept of time seems desirable for at
least two reasons. First, as an emulation, a cyclical concept of time most
closely approaches the ideal of timelessness. This is supported by the fact
that the circle, and especially the sphere, correspond best to the Greek ideal
of harmony. Second, in the cycle, “time [can be] more or less captured by
circulatory repetitions of processes that permit unavoidable temporal movement
but prevent an ‘outpouring’ caused by an eruption into linear infinity.”
77 It succeeds in “cyclically taming time.” 78 Furthermore, the idea of
rhythm also serves to tame time, which is dangerous because it is so unpredictable.
Rhythmicity, as one finds it in poetry, music, and dance, “cultures”
the natural flow of time. 79
Within the horizon of such thought, neither the temporal beginning
nor the final goal of things is of interest. Instead, we find an “orientation toward
the present, indeed, a joyfulness in the present” 80 that is expressed in
the kairos and comes along “with an especially powerful expression of spatial
consciousness that rivals linear, future-oriented time consciousness.” 81
The Aristotelian inference of time from place and movement, as well as the