God and Time: Essays on the Divine Nature

by Gregory E. Ganssle (Editor)

Throughout the history of philosophical theology, scholars have reflected on the relationship between God and time. In the Western religious tradition, God has been thought to be eternal, in the sense that God is outside time. But many thinkers today hold that while God is everlasting, in that there was no beginning to God's existence nor will he ever cease existing, God exists within Time.

In God and Time , Gregory E. Ganssle and David Woodruff have brought together 12 previously unpublished essays from leading philosophers on God's relation to time. Including work from today's most prominent thinkers in this fascinating field, God and Time represents the current state of the discussion between those who believe God to be atemporal (experiencing everything in the "eternal now") and those who believe God to be temporal (experiencing events sequentially, somewhat as we do).

This collection highlights such issues as how the nature of time is relevant to the question of whether God is temporal and how God's other attributes are compatible with his mode of temporal being. By focusing on the metaphysical aspects of time and temporal existence, God and Time makes a unique contribution to the current resurgence of interest in philosophical theology in the analytic tradition.

Genres: Philosophy, Theology

268 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Greg Ganssle (PhD, Syracuse) is professor of philosophy at Talbot School of Theology at Biola University. He is the author of several books, including A Reasonable God: Engaging the New Face of Atheism and Thinking About God, and he is the editor of God and Time.

Reviews

[Randy Hulshizer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent collection of philosophical essays about God and time. Several different viewpoints are represented here, including a rather amusing essay on how a timeless point is more probably the cause of the universe rather than God. Some good arguments on both sides for God being timeless and God being temporal, although I honestly think the temporal camp displays the weaker arguments here. They consistently put (in my opinion) baseless limitations on God if He exists timelessly. Interesting read.

[Michael Ulrich · Rating 3 out of 5]

A tad deep for me