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"Eternity"
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A very brief history of eternity
Eire traces the concept of eternity from ancient times to the present. He examines the rise and fall of five different conceptions of eternity, how they developed, and how they have helped shape individual and collective self-understanding.
Book
Eternity of the Word of God: Exploring a Common Theme in Judeo-Christian and Muslim Theological Discourse
Emerging religions typically lack an established theology initially. Their theology develops gradually; and Islam exhibits traces of influence from earlier belief systems. Therefore, some novel concepts in Muslim theology emerged through the contributions of converts from other faiths. The second and third centuries AH were the formative periods, after which thought degenerated into a split of hairs. Religion was in a ferment, which brought in many strange ideas. Nonetheless, some Muslim scholars disagree that even Judaism and Christianity had some influence on certain Muslim worldviews. Focusing on the doctrine of eternity of the Qur’ān, this paper finds out the extent to which not only Judaism and Christianity but even Greek philosophical principles had some influence on certain Muslim beliefs. The methodology was historical reasoning and analysis of facts in Greek, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The aim is to go beyond the semantic surface into the inner reaches of these traditions to see exactly where the notion of scriptural eternity is anchored. The paper draws attention to the fact that examining the theories about the Qur’ān in the light of inter-textual reasoning with the bible and pre-biblical literature produces interesting data for the Islamic theology of inclusivism although cross-cultural nexus with certain theories about the Qur’ān and Islam in general is rejected by Muslim researchers. The paper revisits the debate and traces the origin of the doctrine arguing that it has possible connections with Greek and Judeo-Christian beliefs. It also appraises some of the arguments of the principal theological groups that defended or refuted the doctrine, respectively.
Journal Article
Sustainability of Sovereign Buildings in Mesopotamian Civilization
The pattern of sovereign buildings has emerged within the course of the history of architecture around the world and through the succession of civilizations since ancient times. The planning and designing foundations of these buildings were mainly affected by the diverse ruling authorities and differed according to the successive systems of government. The main thing that distinguishes most of the designs of this style of building is their sustainability through the materials used in its construction as a means of perpetuation throughout the ages, constantly marking the eternity of its rulers. The lack of knowledge in previous literature in the field of Architecture about the role of materials and technologies in achieving sustainable sovereign buildings in Mesopotamian civilization, constitutes the main research problem. The aim of the present paper is thus defined as arriving at the establishment of a theoretical framework by which are determined the main principles and mechanisms of materials' choice and techniques utilized in different eras of ancient Iraqi architecture, to finally benefit from the past experiences to attain sustainable sovereign buildings today and in the future. The research results confirm the role of the ruling authority (priests and rulers) in the choice of materials and techniques, as a prominent contribution in achieving sustainability and eternity in sovereign buildings of Mesopotamian civilization.
Journal Article
What Are We Talking About When We Say ‘Hope’? Theological Contributions and Challenges for Christianity Today
The concept of hope has varied in meaning from ancient Greece to the present day. Often understood as an expectation or an illusion, hope seems to greatly determine the way human beings live and think about their existence. It is precisely in this context that the questioning of the Christian faith and particularly eschatology arises. The aim of this article is to analyse the concept of Hope, distinguishing it from concepts such as expectations and hopes, and placing it in the sphere of Christian life and theology. In this context, realities such as immortality, eternity, and death will be explored in order to understand if there is room for a Hope that goes beyond empirical certainty or capricious and illusory desire.
Journal Article
Hermeneutical Systematic Dimensions of the Debate on God as Timeless and/or Temporal
While the debate on God’s eternity as timeless and/or temporal is a fascinating topic in itself, especially in philosophical theology, the discussion of time and temporality has a hermeneutical systematic potential for the articulation of Christian theology. In this article, I explore the hermeneutical systematic dimensions of time and timelessness for Christian theology in Augustine’s Confessions (Book XI) in dialogue with contemporary articulations of divine timelessness and temporality, as delineated by Allan Padgett and William Craig. The study identifies how timelessness and temporality are hermeneutically and systematically shaped and serve as presuppositions for related concepts in anthropological and cosmological approaches that inform different views about the relationship of God with His creatures.
Journal Article
A Perspectival Reading of Spinoza's Essence-Existence Distinction
This article examines the essence-existence distinction in Spinoza's theory of modes. This distinction is commonly made in two ways. First, essence and existence are separated by cause. Essences are understood to follow vertically from the essence of God, while existence follows horizontally from other modes. I present textual and systematic arguments against such a causal bifurcation. Second, essence and existence are distinguished by their temporal nature. Essence is eternal. Existence is durational. However, in several passages, Spinoza writes that eternity and duration constitute two ways of understanding nature rather than two really distinct aspects of nature.
Journal Article
The Sempiternity of God and Cosmic Time
The concept of a sempiternal God in Open Theism has considerable advantages in comparison with the classical timeless conception. The problem is that it requires presentism and absolute time which causes difficulties in the ontology of time and contemporary cosmology, especially in its integration with Minkowski space-time. Cosmological theories tend naturally towards eternalism. D. M. Woodruff argues that the existence of the future in Minkowski space-time is unwarranted and D. Zimmerman that its time-dimension is not real time. W. L. Craig defends more problematic neo-Lorentzian relativity with a unique cosmic time and Newtonian concept of absolute time. The advantage is that Craig has a much broader vision extended from science (Relativity and Quantum Theory) to metaphysics and theology, which can serve as a guideline for a sempiternalist and which indicates the topics of possible improvement in dialogue with new developments in science.
Il concetto di un Dio sempiterno in Teismo Aperto presenta notevoli vantaggi rispetto alla concezione classica di Dio atemporale. Il problema è che richiede il presentismo e tempo assoluto che causa delle difficoltà nell’ontologia del tempo e nella cosmologia contemporanea, specialmente nella sua sintonizzazione con lo spazio-tempo di Minkowski. Le teorie cosmologiche tendono naturalmente verso l’eternalismo. D. M. Woodruff sostiene che l’esistenza del futuro nello spazio-tempo di Minkowski è ingiustificata; D. Zimmerman sostiene che la sua dimensione temporale non è il tempo reale; W. L. Craig difende la relatività neo-Lorentziana con un tempo cosmico unico e un concetto Newtoniano di tempo assoluto che sono discutibili. Il vantaggio è che Craig ha una visione più ampia che si estende dalla scienza (relatività e teoria quantistica) alla metafisica e teologia, il che può servire come guida per un sempiternalista e può anche indicare possibili temi per il miglioramento nel dialogo con i nuovi sviluppi della scienza.
Journal Article
Understanding Eternal–Temporal Simultaneity in John’s Prologue and the Sacred Liturgy: A Hermeneutical Theology of Liturgy
This article explores the intersection of time and eternity as it is expressed in the liturgical theology and the theology of John’s Prologue. Drawing on a “thesis–thesis” methodology that juxtaposes scriptural and liturgical theologies, the study offers an interdisciplinary dialogue between these disciplines. While biblical scholars such as Bernadetta Jojko and Raymond Brown elucidate the Johannine vision of divine preexistence and Incarnation as a movement from eternity into time, liturgical theologians such as Alexander Schmemann and Odo Casel describe the Mass as a movement from time into eternity. Through a comparative reading of John 1:1–2 and 1:14 alongside classical and modern liturgical sources—including Pseudo-Dionysius, Maximus the Confessor, Casel, and Guardini—the article seeks to identify a mode of eternal–temporal simultaneity that challenges the claims of analytic philosophers like William Lane Craig. Ultimately, the liturgy is shown to be both a sacramental representation of Christ’s temporal sacrifice and a real participation in the eternal heavenly liturgy.
Journal Article