God and Time: Four Views by Gregory E. Ganssle, Paul Helm

From the Publisher

The Eternal God has Created the Universe. That universe is time-bound. How then should we best understand God's relationship with our time-bound universe? Does God experience each moment of time in succession or are all times present to God? How we think of God and time has implications for our understanding of the nature of time, the creation of the universe, God's knowledge of the future, God's interaction with his creation and the fullness of God's life.

Four notable philosophers skillfully take on this difficult topic, all from within a Christian framework yet contending for different views. Paul Helm argues that divine eternity should be construed as a state of absolute timelessness. Alan G. Padgett maintains that God's eternity is more plausibly to be understood as relative timelessness. William Lane Craig presents a hybrid view that combines timelessness with omnitemporality, while Nicholas Wolterstorff advocates a doctrine of unqualified divine temporality.

Each essay is followed by responses from the other three contributors and a final counter-response from the essayist, making for a lively exchange of ideas. The editor provides a helpful introduction to the debate and its significance. Together these five scholars conduct the reader on a stimulating and mind-stretching journey into one of the most controversial and challenging areas of theology today.

Publishers Weekly

In a related issue, four theologians address the degree to which God is bound by finite time in God & Time: Four Views, from InterVarsity Press, edited by Gregory E. Ganssle, which has been putting out some highly provocative books on perplexing theological questions. While the essays by Paul Helm, Alan G. Padgett, William Lane Craig and Nicholas Wolterstoff deliberate the question on a plane too high for total newcomers (who may need clarifications of terms such as "omnitemporality"), theology students will not want to miss this. Oct.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

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Table of Contents