God and Time: Essays on the Divine Nature [Hardcover]

Gregory E. Ganssle (Editor), David M. Woodruff (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0195129652 | ISBN-13: 978-0195129656 | Publication Date: December 20, 2001

Throughout the history of philosophical theology, scholars have reflected on the relationship between God and time. In the Western religious tradition, God has been thought to be eternal, in the sense that God is outside time. But many thinkers today hold that while God is everlasting, in that there was no beginning to God's existence nor will he ever cease existing, God exists within Time.

In God and Time, Gregory E. Ganssle and David Woodruff have brought together 12 previously unpublished essays from leading philosophers on God's relation to time. Including work from today's most prominent thinkers in this fascinating field, God and Time represents the current state of the discussion between those who believe God to be atemporal (experiencing everything in the "eternal now") and those who believe God to be temporal (experiencing events sequentially, somewhat as we do).

This collection highlights such issues as how the nature of time is relevant to the question of whether God is temporal and how God's other attributes are compatible with his mode of temporal being. By focusing on the metaphysical aspects of time and temporal existence, God and Time makes a unique contribution to the current resurgence of interest in philosophical theology in the analytic tradition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"[E]xibits a rich spectrum of argument concerning the many-faceted issue of God's relation to time...I found no essay in this anthology that lacked intellectual rigor. Accordingly, the volume should serve as an excellent ancillary text for courses in philosophy of religion that focus on divine attributes...I recommend this collection, and must confess that I cannot begin to do justice to its rich argumentation in such a brief review."--The Journal of Religion

"God and Time: Essays on the Divine Nature is not simply another explication of God's nature. It is a well ordered collection of essays divided into four sections: God's existence, God as a creator, his knowledge, and God's relation to the universe. The selection of essays and authors is as varied and purposeful as its divisions and includes a useful index...Ganssle quickly maps the territory for the reader and clearly demonstrates that temporality is one of the critical foci for contemporary philosophical theology...God and Time is a well balanced contribution to philosophical theology and I enthusiastically recommend this book as a primer to the ongoing God and time discussion...Congratulations to the editors for providing a timely and serviceable resource."--Philosophia Christi

About the Author

Gregory E. Ganssle is on the faculty of Rivendell Institute for Christian Thought and Learning in New Haven, Connecticut. He has taught philosophy at Syracuse University and the International School of Theology in California, and has served as a Teaching Fellow and Lecturer at Yale University. He has published articles in International Journal for the Philosophy of Religion, Sophia, Modern Schoolman, Philosophia Christi and other journals.
David Woodruff is Chair of the Philosophy Department at Huntington College. He previously taught at Syracuse University, Northern Illinois University, and Westmont College. He has published papers in Teaching Philosophy, Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, The Journal of Aesthetic Education, and other journals.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 268 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (December 20, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195129652
• ISBN-13: 978-0195129656
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,937,974 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Gregory E. Ganssle

Greg graduated from the University of Maryland in 1978. He earned a Masters of Arts in Philosophy from the University of Rhode Island (1990) and a PhD. in Philosophy (1995) from Syracuse University where his dissertation on God's relation to time won a Syracuse University Dissertation Award.

He has taught philosophy at Syracuse and is currently a part time lecturer in the philosophy department at Yale University. Greg is also a senior fellow at the Rivendell Institute. The Rivendell Institute combines ministry to Graduate Students and Faculty with Academic Research.

Greg has spoken on over fifty campuses throughout the USA. Greg's main interests are in philosophy of religion. He also thinks about the integration of faith and the academic enterprise.

Greg has been married to Jeanie since 1985. They have three children: David, Nick, and Elizabeth.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The only negative is the price., February 1, 2009

By 

Ryan Mullins (Deerfield, IL) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: God and Time: Essays on the Divine Nature (Hardcover)

This is an excellent collection of essays on God and the philosophy of time. The editors did a great job at finding solid representatives of the various positions that philosophical theologians have and are currently defending. The various contributors seek to explore some of the following questions. Is God timeless? Is God temporal? What is time? Is time static or dynamic? Can an Incarnate God be timeless? Can a timeless God know what time it is now?

I should also mention that there are two essays that do not explicitly deal with God's relation to time. William Lane Craig's paper on the Special Theory of Relativity argues that Newton's concept of absolute time has not been done away with by Einstein. Quintin Smith's interesting essay is sort of an atheistic Kalam cosmological argument for the non-existence of God.

This is not an introductory book, and I would not recommend it for students who do not have any previous knowledge about the issues discussed here. I would first recommend reading Ganssle's "Thinking About God", Thomas Morris' "Our Idea of God", or perhaps some other introduction to philosophy of religion before trying to work through this book.