Time&Eternity

Biblical and Theological Conceptions of Time 83
3. One can speak of life in a theological way, even of divine life, only
when one speaks also of time.
4. If God is timeless in the sense that God has neither a place nor extension
in time, then, according to the analytical philosophy of religion, all
statements that relate God to time, in terms of place or duration, are meaningless
or necessarily false. The notion of a Creator interacting with creation
is then impossible.
5. In the view of process theology, God is not only related to time, but is
even conceived as a temporal process.
6. From a christological perspective, God proves God’s divinity precisely
by becoming temporal without thereby ceasing to be God.
7. A doctrine of the Trinity (for example, that of Jürgen Moltmann) that
is based on a theology of the cross presents the Trinitarian history of God as
the perichoretic interlocking of all ages, which means that God should be
thought of in terms of a Trinitarian history of time.
Such, or similarly stated, arguments for a revision of the notion of God’s
timelessness have been variously received. Duane H. Larson 163 argues for
temporality within the Trinity, whereas Paul Helm 164 and Brian Leftow 165
hold fast to the timelessness of God, and Alan G. Padgett 166 presents the hypothesis
of God’s relative timelessness. 167 Both the position of timelessness
and that of temporality pose problems that must be overcome. Dalferth approaches
these problems by initially choosing a christological and Trinitarian
concept of God over a traditionally theistic one because, in his view,
without the christological foundation and Trinitarian structure, God’s existence
as Creator cannot be properly conceived in keeping with a Christian
understanding. 168 In the next step, Dalferth supports the thesis that time
exists only in the plural: not the time, but rather only a multiplicity of
times, since the fact of our temporal existence does “not in any way result in
a universal structure of time in which all causal sequences of events are localized
in a clear and irreversible order.” 169
With respect to the structuring of time in the Christian tradition,
Dalferth introduces a basic distinction 170 between “the ontological time
difference between eternity and time” and “the eschatological time difference
between the old and new ages.” 171 Whereas the first deals with the
mythical time difference between archaic time and present time, the other
concerns the apocalyptic time difference between present time and end
time. In the first case, the concern is with a reference back to primeval
times, which must always be reenacted through rites and festivals. Current
events are understood in light of what has always been. The second model