Time in eternity and eternity in time
pp. 3-12
in: Jennifer Baldwin (ed), Embracing the ivory tower and stained glass windows, Berlin, Springer, 2016Abstract
In her eschatology, Antje Jackelén labors to repudiate dualism between time and eternity. Eternity is not merely timelessness, she argues. Rather, eternity consists of multi-layered time, wherein the present time is influenced by our hope in God's promised future. In this Festschrift chapter, I explicate the Jackelén eschatological vision while offering an expanded commentary on its value for the ongoing creative mutual interaction between science and theology, especially cosmology and eschatology. More specifically, I show that open trinitarian theism affirms that the temporal created world is taken up into the divine eternity. Time lodges in eternity, while eternity enters time proleptically. History counts within God's trinitarian life. What happens within time has eternal ramifications when eschatology is thought to point to fulfillment, to consummation, to redemption.