Time and Eternity: Exploring God's Relationship to Time

This monograph presents a comprehensive philosophical defense of divine temporality, arguing that God exists in time rather than timelessly. Craig challenges the dominant tradition of divine timelessness inherited from Augustine and Aquinas, proposing instead that God became temporal at the moment of creation while existing timelessly sans creation.

The work develops through systematic examination of biblical, theological, and philosophical arguments. Craig first demonstrates that Scripture consistently portrays God as temporal, experiencing succession and change in response to creation. He then critiques the philosophical motivations for divine timelessness, particularly the claim that temporality would compromise divine perfection. Central to his argument is the distinction between metaphysical time and physical time, allowing him to maintain that God experiences temporal succession without being subject to physical measures of time.

Craig engages extensively with both classical and contemporary defenders of divine timelessness, including Stump and Kretzmann's influential theory of eternal-temporal simultaneity, which he argues is logically incoherent. He particularly targets the notion that a timeless God could know tensed facts or interact causally with temporal creation. His analysis draws on modern philosophy of time, defending a dynamic or tensed theory of time (the A-theory) as essential to understanding God's relationship to temporal reality.

The monograph's distinctive contribution lies in its synthesis of analytic philosophy of time with systematic theology. Craig employs modal logic and metaphysical analysis to demonstrate that divine temporality better explains God's omniscience regarding temporal facts and his providence over creation. He argues that only a temporal God can possess knowledge of what is happening now, exercise responsive providence, or experience genuine relationships with creatures.

The work significantly impacts contemporary philosophical theology by challenging assumptions about divine perfection and changelessness. Craig's position that God is timeless sans creation but temporal with creation offers a middle path between pure timelessness and pure temporality. His rigorous engagement with physics, particularly relativity theory, demonstrates how theological claims must grapple with scientific understanding of time.

This monograph has become a landmark text in debates about divine attributes, influencing subsequent discussions about God's knowledge, causation, and relationship to creation. It exemplifies the analytic tradition's contribution to classical theological questions while maintaining substantive engagement with the Christian tradition.