God & Time: 4 Views

Rating:
Summary: Good introduction to a difficult topic
Review: This book is a very helpful overview of the different perspecives on how God is realted to time. The different contributions are written by four prominent Christian philosphers who are able advocates of their positions.

Paul Helm defends the classical view of God as timeless. Alan Padgett argues for a mediating view in which God is understood to be timeless as it relates to physical measurment of time. Rather, on his view, God is the source of time, with his own, divine time being the ontological ground for all human experiences of time. William Lane Craig argues for a veiw which he calls Omnitemporality in which God is understood to experience time with his creation, however Craig maintains that prior to creation, God's existence was timeless. Nicholas Wolterstorff finally defends a doctrine of God as temporally everlasting, thus experiencing time with us.

Of the four, I think that Padgett and Wolterstorff make the best cases, though Padgett's terminology sometimes is confusing. A better name for his positons would be "eternal timefulness" or something that expresses his contention that time is actaully grounded in God's life rather than being a merely created category.

The volume is a bit unbalanced as Paul Helm seemed to be the only advocate of the classical position. Craig also seemed to bring very little to the table to discuss. However, whatever imbalances there are in this volume are likely due to the fact that the classical view is rarely held by significant philosopers today. On the whole this is a good book that provides a helpful introduction to a topic that is often difficult for begining students to get a handle on. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Nice comparative text
Review: This book would be an excellent book for someone who is interested in God and time but does not have a strong philosophical background in the issues. The text is formatted very similar to the Zondervan 'Views' texts. In other words, a given view from one of the four scholars is put forth, and the other three scholars respond. After the other three scholars have responded, the initial scholar has a chance to respond to the other three scholar's responses!

The four scholars in this text are well known in their area of study. These four scholars are Paul Helm, Alan G. Padgett, William Lane Craig, and Nicholas Wolterstorff.

The only downfall to the book is that it is geared more toward the temporalist viewpoint. Craig and Wolterstorff are without a doubt temporalists, Paul Helm is without a doubt a timeless adherent, but Padgett seems to be somewhere in the middle and it seems that he is more of a temporalist in his assertions.

Padgett has contentions with the notion of 'everlasting eternity' (a view which Wolterstorff holds), but he also has certain contentions with 'timeless eternity' (a view that Paul Helm holds). Thus, he opts for a type of middle position which he calls 'relative timelessness.' This view is rather odd and incoherent in certain ways. It asserts differences between 'created time' and 'God's time.' Padgett asserts that "God's time is a necessary precondition to God's being," and vice versa. I do not fully understand where Padgett is trying to go with these type of assertions which seem to demonstrate God as contingent in some sense. Padgett claims God is relatively timeless, that is timeless, relative to our created measured time, and that our time takes place inside God's time. A type of time contained in time. For further reading into Padgett's view read his book "God, Eternity, and the Nature of Time." (I myself am still working on Padgett's assertions)

A final feature which strengthens this text is Greg Ganssle's introduction. He does a very good job at setting the stage for the discussion. His introduction alone made the book worth the purchase. Overall this is a great book for the beginner and a nice refresher for those who are fairly well versed in these issues. I highly recommend it.