Eternal God: A Study of God without Time

by Paul Helm

Overview

Eternal God offers a powerful defence of the view that God exists in timeless eternity. This is the classical Christian view of God, but it is claimed by many theologians and philosophers of religion to be incoherent. Paul Helm rebuts the charge of incoherence, arguing that divine timelessness is grounded in the idea of God as creator, and that this alone makes possible a proper account of divine omniscience. He develops some of the consequences of divine timelessness, particularly as it affects both divine and human freedom, and considers some of the alleged problems about referring to God. The book thus constitutes a unified treatment of the main concepts of philosophical theology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780191519796
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	12/22/1988
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	295 KB

About the Author

Paul Helm was educated at Worcester College, Oxford, and was for many years a member of the Philosophy Department of the University of Liverpool. From 1993-2000 he was the Professor of the History and Philosophy of Religion, King's College, London. In 2001 he was appointed J.I.Packer Chair of Philosophical Theology at Regent College, Vancouver. He is presently a Teaching Fellow there.

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. The Issue of Divine Eternity
2. What is Divine Eternity?
3. Indexicals and Spacelessness
4. Eternity and Personality
5. Eternity, Immutability, and Omniscience
6. Timelessness and Foreknowledge
7. Omniscience and the Future
8. Divine Foreknowledge and Fatalism
9. Timelessness and Human Responsibility
10. Divine Freedom
11. Referring to Eternal God
12. And then....
13. Eternal Creation
14. The Two Standpoints
15. Time and Trinity
Bibliography
Index