Philosophy of Time
The nature of time, eternity, and God's relationship to temporal reality—from the Kalam argument to divine eternity.
Time and the Kalam Argument
The nature of time is crucial for cosmological arguments. The Kalam argument depends on the impossibility of an actually infinite past.
If the universe began to exist, it has a cause. That cause must be timeless, spaceless, immaterial, and personal. The Kalam argument is one of the most discussed arguments in contemporary philosophy of religion.
- Beginning of Time: If time began, what caused it? The cause must be timeless—outside time, not subject to temporal succession.
- Infinite Past: Can the past be actually infinite? Arguments from Hilbert's Hotel and the impossibility of traversing an infinite suggest not.
- First Cause: A timeless cause of time must be personal—to choose to create. Only a free agent can initiate a temporal effect from an eternal state.
- Big Bang Cosmology: Modern cosmology confirms the universe had a beginning. The Big Bang is the beginning of space, time, matter, and energy.
God and Time
How does God relate to time? This question has occupied theologians and philosophers for millennia. Is God timeless or everlasting? Both views have distinguished defenders.
Classical theism holds that God is timeless—outside time, seeing all of history in an eternal 'now.' Others argue God is everlasting—in time but without beginning or end.
- Divine Eternity: Is God timeless (outside time) or everlasting (in time without beginning or end)? Boethius, Aquinas, and Stump defend timelessness.
- Omniscience and Time: How does God know future free actions? Open theism, Molinism, and simple foreknowledge offer different models.
- Providence: God's relationship to time affects how we understand providence and prayer. Does God respond to prayer in time?
- Incarnation: In Christ, the eternal entered time. The Incarnation is the intersection of eternity and temporality—God with us in history.