The Concept Of Time In Origen

An exposition challenging inveterate verdicts ingrained in the historical / theological mindset about Origen, who is shown to have produced a sheerly new theory of Time, the Christian one. Claims attributing the tenet of a ‘beginningless world’ to him are disproved. The author challenges the widespread impression about this theology being bowled head over heels by its encounter with Platonism or Neoplatonism, casting new light on Origen’s grasp of the relation between Hellenism, Hebrew thought and Christianity.

'A wonderful book about Stephen Hawking's biggest legacy' Spectator 'Truly mind-stretching... Immensely rewarding' The Times 'This superbly written book offers insight into an extraordinary individual, the creative process, and the scope and limits of our current understanding of the cosmos' Sir Martin Rees Stephen Hawking's closest collaborator offers the intellectual superstar's final thoughts on the universe. Perhaps the biggest question Stephen Hawking tried to answer in his extraordinary life was how the universe could have created conditions so perfectly hospitable to life. In order to solve this mystery, Hawking studied the big bang origin of the universe, but his early work ran into a crisis when the math predicted many big bangs producing a multiverse - countless different universes, most of which would be far too bizarre to harbour life. Holed up in the theoretical physics department at Cambridge, Stephen Hawking and his friend and collaborator Thomas Hertog worked on this problem for twenty years, developing a new theory of the cosmos that could account for the emergence of life. Peering into the extreme quantum physics of cosmic holograms and venturing far back in time, they were startled to find a deeper level of evolution in which the physical laws themselves transform and simplify until particles, forces, and even time itself fades away. This discovery led them to a revolutionary idea: The laws of physics are not set in stone but are born and co-evolve as the universe they govern takes shape. As Hawking's final days drew near, the two collaborators published their theory, which proposed a radical new Darwinian perspective on the origins of our universe. On the Origin of Time offers a striking new vision of the universe's birth that will profoundly transform the way we think about our place in the order of the cosmos and may ultimately prove to be Hawking's greatest legacy.

An exposition challenging inveterate verdicts ingrained in the historical / theological mindset about Origen, who is shown to have produced a sheerly new theory of Time, the Christian one. Claims attributing the tenet of a 'beginningless world' to him are disproved. The author challenges the widespread impression about this theology being bowled head over heels by its encounter with Platonism or Neoplatonism, casting new light on Origen's grasp of the relation between Hellenism, Hebrew thought and Christianity.

A courageous and well-executed attempt to eliminate long-standing miscomprehensions about Origen's thought. The enterprise is understanding this thought on the basis of Origen's concept of Time, all the more since this view of time has never been ad hoc studied before. The author shows how essential facets of an entire theology and philosophy are related to a view of time: Anthropology, cosmology, eschatology, theology, the attitude to death, moral ideas are aspects both determining and determined by a certain view of time. There is a thorough reassessment of the relation between Hellenism and Christianity, both in general and as this is demonstrated in Origen's work. The author takes the opportunity to exonerate the Alexandrian from the traditional charge that he compromised his theology by mingling it with much of the substance of Platonist and Stoic philosophy. This old fallacy has resulted in Origen being regarded as one of the chief architects of the Hellenization of Christianity. Against any ancient or modern account, it is proven that Origen did not hold any notion such as the so-called «eternity of creation»: a revolutionary thesis, which though is substantiated and confirmed through Origen's own texts in Greek, most of which have remained unstudied hitherto. Equally original is the thesis that Origen does have an eschatology, which is expounded in detail in this book. As a matter of fact, this is the case of an intensely and fervently eschatological thought, determined by notions such as providence - prophecy - promise - expectation - realization - faith - hope - waiting - fulfilment - end. A thought earnestly oriented towards a promised, and thus expected, end.

In this collection of essays, Tom Greggs explores the nature of the church in a world of many religions. Greggs' writings on the Church and on other religions emphasize the importance of attentiveness to Christ and the Holy Spirit, and both are simultaneously generous and particularist. The first part of the book addresses the Church as it is brought into being by the Spirit in glorifying God, celebrates the sacraments, respects the authority of the creeds, is generously Catholic, and critiques its own religion. The second part looks at the church in a pluralist context as it engages in inter-faith dialogue, expresses both particularism and universalism, speaks of Christ with many names, and reads scripture and understands the many covenants found there. Greggs offers a programmatic conclusion, setting an agenda for theologies of the church and of other religions and their simultaneous relationality.

This collection examines the topic of time in the life and works of Augustine of Hippo. Adopting a global perspective on time as a philosophical and theological problem, the volume includes reflections on the meaning of history, the mortality of human bodies, and the relationship between temporal experience and linguistic expression. As Augustine himself once observed, time is both familiar and surprisingly strange. Everyone’s days are structured by temporal rhythms and routines, from watching the clock to whiling away the hours at work. Few of us, however, take the time to sit down and figure out whether time is real or not, or how it is we are able to hold our past, present, and future thoughts together in a straight line so that we can recite a prayer or sing a song. Divided into five sections, the essays collected here highlight the ongoing relevance of Augustine’s work even in settings quite distinct from his own era and context. The first three sections, organized around the themes of interpretation, language, and gendered embodiment, engage directly with Augustine’s own writings, from the Confessions to the City of God and beyond. The final two sections, meanwhile, explore the afterlife of the Augustinian approach in conversation with medieval Islamic and Christian thinkers (like Avicenna and Aquinas), as well as a broad range of Buddhist figures (like Dharmakīrti and Vasubandhu). What binds all of these diverse chapters together is the underlying sense that, regardless of the century or the tradition in which we find ourselves, there is something about the puzzle of temporality that refuses to go away. Time, as Augustine knew, demands our attention. This was true for him in late ancient North Africa. It was also true for Buddhist thinkers in South and East Asia. And it remains just as true for humankind in the twenty-first century, as people around the globe continue to grapple with the reality of time and the challenges of living in a world that always seems to be to be speeding up rather than slowing down.

The fatherhood of God has has a central, if increasingly controversial place in Christian thinking about God. Looking at the genesis of Athanasius' understanding of divine fatherhood against the background of the Alexandrian tradition, Dr. Widdicombe demonstrates how the concept of the fatherhood of God came to occupy such a prominent place in Christian theology.