Category of time in Christian metaphysics: Gregory of Nyssa and Maximus the Confessor

SCHOLE

Mikhaylov, Petr¹ 

[1] St. Tikhon’s Orthodox University, Russia;

关键词: temporality;    problem of time;    theology of time;    definitions of time;    time and eternity;    Heraclitus;    Augustine;    Gregory of Nyssa;   

DOI  :  

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

In the article a problem of time is posed as an object of Christian theological reflection developed in a complicated interweaving of philosophical, cultural and religious traditions of the Mediterranean civilization. A typology of the problem is established by a correlation of the category of time with different aspects of temporality – with eternity in Antiquity, with future in Modernity and with present in the thought of different authors belonging to different epochs. The most representative thinkers of Christian metaphysic, viewed against this background, are Gregory of Nyssa (the 4th c.) and Maximus the Confessor (the 7th c.). The former has successfully reinterpreted time as being-to-salvation rather than being-to-destruction. Gregory solves the problem of time by introducing an original concept of a dynamical static, or a statical dynamic, using the principle of epektasis as a general tool. In that case, time becomes a kind of spiritual practice. Maximus resolves the problem in a more traditional manner. He speaks about an overcoming of time in the perspective of divine eternity; Gregory on the contrary presupposes its transfiguration. Thereby Christian metaphysic offers a number of possibilities for a theological solution of the eternal question about time.

【 授权许可】

Unknown