Wonderful how Prof Barclay handles he difficult issues of time and eternity. I'm not sure that I agree with his admiration of Barthes' metaphor of the volcanic island. Yes, eternity is present but 'submerged'...or perhaps, obscured or hidden in the augenblick. (sp?) of our immediate experience. And yes! the day is dawning right now, and is near, in our lives and experience. The problem I have with the metaphor is that it suggests something concrete residing just below the waters. Yes, true enough...(gee, I'm convincing myself to change my mind entirely! this is a good metaphor after all!) true enough, but eternity is poorly imaged as an underwater volcanic mass. My issue is with Barthes' spatializing of temporality...and Eternity. Eternity in particular doesn't fit well into spatial, concrete metaphors. all that said, metaphors only intend to clarify one point in a complex phenomenon. I bow to Barthes! I have nothing better at this moment. Ask again in fifty years.
Romans 8:23 literally destroys Barth’s thinking. “23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.“
1 Corinthians 15:19 destroys Barth’s interpretation of time as the hear and now. “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.”
Great scholarship, thanks for making this video available. Blessings
Wonderful how Prof Barclay handles he difficult issues of time and eternity. I'm not sure that I agree with his admiration of Barthes' metaphor of the volcanic island. Yes, eternity is present but 'submerged'...or perhaps, obscured or hidden in the augenblick. (sp?) of our immediate experience. And yes! the day is dawning right now, and is near, in our lives and experience. The problem I have with the metaphor is that it suggests something concrete residing just below the waters. Yes, true enough...(gee, I'm convincing myself to change my mind entirely! this is a good metaphor after all!) true enough, but eternity is poorly imaged as an underwater volcanic mass. My issue is with Barthes' spatializing of temporality...and Eternity. Eternity in particular doesn't fit well into spatial, concrete metaphors.
all that said, metaphors only intend to clarify one point in a complex phenomenon. I bow to Barthes! I have nothing better at this moment. Ask again in fifty years.
Romans 8:23 literally destroys Barth’s thinking. “23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.“
1 Corinthians 15:19 destroys Barth’s interpretation of time as the hear and now. “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.”