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Title: Eternal God: A Study of God Without Time by Paul Helm ISBN: 0-19-823725-1 Publisher: Oxford Univ Pr on Demand Pub. Date: June, 1997 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (3 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A Tensed-Review About A (Supposedly) Timeless God
Comment: Paul Helm's work needs to be considered in a few ways: in terms of its cogency of argumentation, the clearness of writing, and when it was written. For each of those, his book deserves a five-star rating. This book is written very clearly to give you an idea about what some of the issue are. The only thing I thought that was not dealt with in terms of a clear explanation was "Cambridge changes." Nevertheless, that did not inhibit my understanding through the rest of the book. Also, Helm's book was written in 1987-88. The issue of "God and time" is one of the hot topics currently circulating philosophy of religion journals. That being said, for the time he wrote it, it deals with the stronger criticisms to a timeless God (e.g. as put forth by Swinburne).
This book starts by looking at some of the challenges, such as to the origin of the idea of a timeless God within the Christian world view; if God is in time, then are different temporal events identical with one another in God's mind?, etc. It considers one model, Stump-Kretzmann's ET-simultaneity model, and opts for another position. Following which, the idea of indexicals are considered; relating the idea of God in time to a God that is in space. Following there is a discussion on God being a timeless-person; his immutability in respect to his timelessness, and a relating issue of God's knowledge. With that said, an obvious relating discussion of God's (fore)knowledge is in hand, and free will. Both compatibilism and libertarian agency are discussed.
In that discussion about freedom, the following is considered: the Ockhamist distinction of 'hard' and 'soft' facts; logical determinism and theological determinism (in a discussion of fatalism); is God the author of evil (or sin)?; or does an atheist version of determinism fair any better than a theological determinist account for grounding human moral responsibility? Lastly, there is a discussion about referring to a timeless God. Both Anthony Flew and Kai Nielson's work are considered; Helm works with Kripke's distinctions to form a plausible response.
Over all, this book is not an easy read; but it is not an easy topic either! But again, Helm writes clearly and his theory is at least initially plausible. It would have been nice to see a discussion on the different time theories (A or B theory), but that was not absolutely necessary. Perhaps in relation to today's work, it would be. But this book is worth reading to get an understanding of a defense for the traditional view of God. See also God and Time: Four Views, also made available at Amazon.
Rating: 5
Summary: One out of a few to maintain the timlessness of God
Comment: Unfortunately the traditional (i.e. classical) view of God as a timeless being is waning. However, there are still a few keen men, such as Paul Helm, who argue for and defend the traditional view of God. "The Eternal God" is a gem of a book. Helm spends his time in these pages refuting the notion that a timeless God is incoherent. God, being the creator, Helm claims, is one of many solid evidences that can account for God's omniscience, and ultimately for God's eternality (i.e. timelessness). Helm also discusses the consequences of divine timelessness and human freedom, and our language of reference toward an eternal being. Moreover, Helm covers tensed and tensseless facts, indexicals, and how God knows time and how God relates to time. It must be noted, however, that this book presupposes that the reader has a background knowledge of the issues at hand. But, it is also written in such a way that if one reads the book with great care and attention, it is not too difficult to understand. I highly recommend this book as one of the better defenses of the view of God as a timeless being.
Rating: 5
Summary: God is Transcendent and Immanent, Eternal and Infinite
Comment: A refreshing, Biblical treatment of a recently controversial topic - God's Eternity, as it relates to Omniscience, Foreknowledge, Aseity, Infiniteness and other Scriptural attributes. Our era is on the threshhold of potentially unravelling the Biblical portrait of our Whole God (He is greater than the sum of His attributes) into a 'Reader's Digest' abridged version of a 'kinder, gentler, user friendly god made in man's image'. What with process thought, free-will theists and other hybrid theories partially or radically jettisoning the historical, evangelical exegesis approach to systematic theology, we seem to have a 'free-will free-for-all'. This volume is an invaluable resource to marshal against unbiblical, neo-evangelical encroachments on the Scriptural understanding of the Person of God. While His many attributes can be distinguished, they cannot be detached from each other or His Personhood. Any 'fresh rethinking' of any one attribute, such as Omniscience (Can God know the future free actions of created agents as anything but open possibilities?)has involuntary unforeseen ripple/domino effects on each of the other attributes such as Omnipresence, etc. For example, if God cannot know a free-will future as definite in advance in toto, micro, subatomic level, exhaustively, without exception, then by definition, God cannot be truly Omnipresent in space/time reality. God is not only Omniwhere, but Omniwhen; Omnithere and Omnithen; Omnihere and Omninow. By ruling out God's exhaustive definite foreknowledge of all future free-will activity, His Omnipresence is in direct proportion downgraded to Multipresence, Penultimacy, Quasi-Eternal,Finite. Thus, we have a 'whole new god', not the Bible's Whole God. Sage, seeker, skeptic, saint - all will be challenged to re-evaluate just what God is believed in by careful consideration of this excellent volume. See also Millard Erickson's God the Father Almighty; Evangelical Left; Norman Geisler's Making God in Man's Image and C.S. Lewis Mere Christianity.
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Title: God, Time, and Knowledge (Cornell Studies in the Philosophy of Religion) by William Hasker ISBN: 0801485452 Publisher: Cornell Univ Pr Pub. Date: April, 1998 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: God & Time: 4 Views by Gregory E. Ganssle ISBN: 0830815511 Publisher: Intervarsity Press Pub. Date: October, 2001 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
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Title: Time and Eternity: Exploring God's Relationship to Time by William Lane Craig ISBN: 1581342411 Publisher: Crossway Books Pub. Date: March, 2001 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: God and Time: Essays on the Divine Nature by Gregory E. Ganssle, David M. Woodruff ISBN: 0195129652 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: January, 2002 List Price(USD): $55.00 |
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