Time, Eternity, and the Trinity

One of the vital issues in contemporary Christian theology is the problem of a renewed understanding of God's eternity and its relation to time. This is not merely a peripheral doctrinal issue, but lies at the heart of our understanding of God and humanity, and contributes to our entire worldview. This study focuses on a long-standing debate between two competing views on God's eternity: one focused on God's absolute timelessness in classical theism, and the other on God's temporal everlastingness in contemporary panentheism. In contrast to both of these well-worn options, this book presents an alternative Trinitarian analogical understanding of God's eternity and its relation to time, especially through a critical reflection on Karl Barth's and Hans Urs von Balthasar's engagement of the issue. This analogical approach, based on the dynamic and dramatic concepts of God's being-in-relation and of the Triune God's communicative action in eternity and time, has the potential to resolve the debate between absolute timeless eternity and temporal everlasting duration. ""To speak well of God we must say something about eternity. Nevertheless, it is a brave theologian who ventures into the fields of academic discourse to say something about the nature of time. Kim's book breaks the philosophical deadlock between those who view eternity as timelessness and those who view it as everlastingness by expanding his dialogue partners to include Barth and von Balthasar and by reorienting the whole discussion in a fascinating christological and Trinitarian direction."" --Kevin J. Vanhoozer Blanchard Professor of Theology Wheaton College Graduate School ""In this book, we can find a remarkable attempt to resolve a vital issue in contemporary Christian theology, the problem of God's eternity and its relation to time. Dr. Eunsoo Kim provides an excellent overview of the biblical, historical, philosophical, scientific, and theological debates on the topic. Especially, the final chapter of the book, which is the author's significant contribution to Christian theology, must not be overlooked. This volume should be added to the reading list for anyone interested and working in this area."" --Jong Yun Lee Senior Pastor of Seoul Presbyterian Church ""Kim makes a significant contribution to the current debate about time, eternity, and God. His biblical, theological, and philosophical scholarship is thorough and insightful. His analogical-trinitarian solution, developed from Barth and von Balthassar, is constructive and articulate. It is a valuable addition even if traditional theology provides an analogical understanding of eternity."" --John W. Cooper Professor of Philosophical Theology Calvin Theological Seminary ""The author successfully presents a creative, biblical--as well as evangelical--theological account of 'time and eternity' . . . by suggesting a new Trinitarian ontology, namely, 'Being-as-life-in-relation.'"" --Yung Han Kim Senior Professor of Systematic Theology Soongsil University Graduate School of Christian Studies, Seoul, Korea Eunsoo Kim is Adjunct Professor of Systematic Theology at Soongsil University Graduate School of Christian Studies in Seoul, South Korea, and the president of Korea Theological Interdisciplinary Studies.