Jüngel: theses on eternity

In the Toronto Journal of Theology 22/2 (2006), Christopher R.J. Holmes discusses the theology of Eberhard Jüngel and Wolf Krötke by offering a translation of a recent set of theses by Jüngel and a review of Krötke’s most significant theological work. The article is entitled, “Eberhard Jüngel and Wolf Krötke: Recent Contributions toward a Trinitarian Doctrine of Divine Attributes.” The two central works for each theologian regarding the divine attributes are Gott als Geheimnis der Welt (Jüngel; ET 1983) and Gottes Klarheiten: Eine Neuinterpretation der Lehre von Gottes “Eigenschaften” (Krötke). Holmes reviews the latter in the second half of his article, while many of the former’s insights are evident in Jüngel’s theses, entitled “Theses on the Eternality of Eternal Life.” (I have learned third-hand from a source close to Jüngel that he has abandoned his latest project on eternal life, so I surmise that these theses are the remains of that recent attempt.)

Jüngel’s theses on eternity are a sustained criticism of classical metaphysics and an attempt to apply the radical insights of the later Karl Barth to the topic of eternity. Barth began the radical rethinking of the divine attributes with Church Dogmatics II/1, but the revolution took full form with II/2 and the marvelous fourth volume. Jüngel credits Barth in his theses for challenging the metaphysical captivity of the divine attributes (though he cites statements from the work of Boethius and Thomas that show seeds of this later revolution). But while he says (in thesis 3.7) that both Barth and Pannenberg pointed theology “in the right direction” by establishing “the denial of the timelessness of eternity with reference to the Trinity,” he also says that this is as far as they got. In these theses, Jüngel seeks to go a step further.

I would like to offer an extended engagement with these theses by Jüngel at some point in the future. For now, though, I will print some of the highlights (skipping most of the sub-theses) for the sake of discussion.


Theses on the Eternality of Eternal Life (trans. C.R.J. Holmes)

1 Eternity is God himself in the fullness of his existence as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. ...

2 What eternity is and what deserves to be called eternity can only be appropriately defined on the basis of the revelation of the triune God through a detailed exposition of his self-revealing life.

2.1 All efforts to define through contrasting images, on the basis of human experiences of lack—via negationis—what eternity is and what deserves to be called eternal, run the danger of missing the actual meaning of eternity as a predicate of God. Therefore, such efforts are probleinatic because in no way is it determined what experiences lacking eternity should constitute or form the contrast: e.g., the experience of the non-lingering moment, the experience of lacking a stabilitas loci (“homeless and fugitive on earth”—Gn. 4:12), the experience of physical transitoriness, the experience of intellectual limitedness, the experience of spiritual and moral powerlessness and so forth. ...

3 For the metaphysical concept of eternity which has become widely dominant in philosophy and theology—a concept not gained through an exposition of the self-revealing divine life of God—dialectical contrast to the concept of time is characteristic. Accordingly, it is surprising that eternity is not conceived as a contrast to space and time but rather only as a contrast to time. What eternity is, then, is defined through a dialectical contrast to time: “in cognitionem aeternitatis oportet nos venire per tempus,” i.e. “we arrive at the knowledge of eternity only through the knowledge of time.” …

3.8 A trinitarian definition of the concept of eternity would have to renounce classifying eternity as an attribute of the divine essence or—and this would be better—to define all the attributes of God’s essence in a trinitarian way.

4 As Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the one divine essence exists in trinitarian self-relatedness, which includes the still greater selflessness of the loving turn to the human and the world created by him. As one intensively related to himself, God’s triune existence is self-concentrating life and is as such eternal.

4.1 Eternity is the consummate form of the trinitarian existence of God (opera trinitas ad intra)—just as space and time are the form of the divine action toward his creature (opera trinitas ad extra). …

4.2 God in his original self-differentiation knows himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit and exists as a trinitarian community of reciprocal otherness. As such, God is a relationally rich essence. The concentrated and intensive fulfilment of his trinitarian relational richness is his eternity. …

4.3 Inasmuch as God differentiates himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit in such a way that the trinitarian persons, existing as relational subsistences, refer to one another most intensively and so to speak live concentratedly, God is eternal. …

4.5 As the intensity and concentration of the divine life and being, God’s eternity is his constancy which is rendered problematic by nothing and no one, and which shows itself in contrast to his creature to be fidelity. …

4.6 The intensity and concentration which is characteristic for the triune eventfulness of divine life, and which includes in itself the duo maxime contraria of life and death, shows eternity to be the peace of the divine life of the Spirit which bears the tension of life and death. Eternity is peaceful existence.

4.6.1 “Not the life which shies away from death ... but rather the life which endures it, is the life of the Spirit.” G.W.F. Hegel’s statement is valid as well, and is especially true of eternity conceived as the peace of the divine life of the Spirit. …

4.7 As the concentration and intensity of divine life, eternity is the original unity of reality and possibility.

4.7.1 In opposition to the metaphysical (Aristotelian) tradition, it is to be contested that eternity excludes from itself the mode of being of possibility. Rather, God’s reality is eternal precisely in the fact that it reveals possibilities and preserves possibilities instead of uprooting them through realization. …

5 Jesus Christ risen from the dead promises and guarantees to mortals an unrestricted communion of life with God and to that extent participation in God’s eternity.

5.1 As a gift of sharing in God’s eternal life, participation in God’s eternity which has been guaranteed and promised to the mortal human creature is the creaturely immortalization of human life. In the event of taking part in God’s eternal life, the creature is the living subject.

5.1.1 Immortalization is therefore something completely different from the antiquation or archiving of lived life.

5.2 The immortalization of human life concentrates this lived life in its entirety and intensifies it to his glory.