Timelessness, Trinity and temporality

Abstract

In philosophy and theology there exists a complex relation between timelessness, Trinity and temporality. Timelessness is an age-old attribute given to God in philosophical and theological traditions, but within the last century’s development of trinitarian theology new emphasis has been placed on God’s temporality. This article discusses the trinitarian theologian Robert W Jenson’s understanding of God’s “temporal infinity” as well as the theologian Antje Jackelén’s theology of time. Their proposed concepts of God’s time/eternity is analysed in terms of the contemporary philosophical and scientific debates on the nature of time. Although Jenson’s and Jackelén’s conceptions of God’s time/eternity might, to a great extent, be philosophically sound, they still have some unresolved – perhaps more theological than philosophical – implications.