Can someone clarify the eastern orthodox teaching "Temps Immobile" of Fr. Alexander Schmemann?
Upvote:0
My attempt at answering the question:
In general the God created time and He is not constrained by time. That means the God is able to see the entire "time" at once, the same way we can take a physical object and look at it from different angles. That doesn't mean that "time" is erased - God has a perfect outlook on time.
Humans have both animal nature (body, which is constrained by time) and spiritual nature. After one dies, only the spiritual part remains. It is possible that then we will also have some aspects of that "perfect" outlook on time as God when we are not burdened by physical bodies.
That also means without a body we are not able to change ourselves (because time is required for us to make changes in ourselves) and our last chance to make any decisions and turn our fate around will happen during the Final Judgement, when we will receive new bodies (see: Philippians 3:20-21).
Also my opinion as an additional comment:
I think answering such questions in a clear way is impossible, because: we would have to understand what exactly time is and how it works - and to do so we would have to be able to observe the time from a higher dimension (which is impossible for us - creating a mathematical model is not the same as an empirical understanding). Paul The Apostle had a clear glimpse of the afterlife / spiritual side of life (see: Corinthians) and tried to explain what he experienced using human words and terms and deemed that also was impossible ("Corinthians 2:13: We also speak these things, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words."). So all that suggests we can debate what afterlife looks like (as Schmemann does), but in the end Bible suggests that we won't find answers to such questions (because our physical bodies do not have the tools and capabilities required to describe them), so most likely you won't find a clear explanation anywhere.
More post
- 📝 Who is Mammon whom Jesus warned of in Sermon of the Mount?
- 📝 Does Hosea 6:2 place the Second Coming of the Christ at 3000 AD?
- 📝 When Friday asks "Why God no kill the devil?" is Robinson Crusoe's response in line with Anglican theology?
- 📝 Multiple wives and concubines | male and female "original" intent
- 📝 Why doesn't the Bible also say a woman should leave her parents to be united to the husband?
- 📝 Will there be ongoing co-creation (aka technological development) in heaven?
- 📝 Is the root of salvation correctly summed up as "Be saved and repent!" or should it be "Repent and be saved!"?
- 📝 Why didn't God remove the rainbow?
- 📝 Reformation objections to lectio divina?
- 📝 What exactly is a Christian Witch?
- 📝 What is the distinction between Consubstantial and One in Being?
- 📝 Did John Bunyan really dream the Pilgrim's Progress? Had he memorized all the verses?
- 📝 What do People of Praise believe?
- 📝 According to the Bible where exactly did God create Adam?
- 📝 God commanded people to kill in the Old testament, does he still command people to kill today?
- 📝 How do Sola Scriptura defenders have a list of "scripture" since the list isn't mentioned in scripture?
- 📝 What saints were able to accurately determine what vocation God is calling someone to?
- 📝 How do Mormon missionaries learn foreign languages so quickly?
- 📝 What is the Plan of Salvation in LDS theology?
- 📝 Does believing Christ died make you saved?
- 📝 List of old heresies condemned by the Catholic Church now present in Mormonism and Jehovah's Witnesses
- 📝 Are (or should be) the resolutions of the SDA General Conference public?
- 📝 "Ask and you shall recieve" Can we ask for anything?
- 📝 Is it justifiable to kill an innocent person with the following conditions?
- 📝 What is the origin among the Church of England of the Paschal Greeting?
- 📝 When was the title of "Mother of God" first ascribed to Mary?
- 📝 What is an overview of how Christians discern genuine cases of demonic influence from mundane mental health problems?
- 📝 What is the law during the time of Melchizedek?
- 📝 Why are Holy See-PLO's relations "special"?
- 📝 Looking for a website providing HTML formatted works of Joseph Pohle's 12 volume Dogmatic Theology
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Can someone clarify the eastern orthodox teaching "Temps Immobile" of Fr. Alexander Schmemann?
- 📝 How can common believers in the Eastern Orthodox Church be sure that the Church's decisions are correct and not erroneous?
- 📝 Can you give air-kisses to icons in the Eastern Orthodox church instead of physical kisses?
- 📝 Can protestant churches join the Eastern Orthodox Church?
- 📝 What are the major differences between Eastern and Western Orthodox Christianities?
- 📝 What is the ecclesiastical 'hierarchy' of the Eastern Orthodox Church?
- 📝 Where can I find the Orthodox response to the Augsburg Confession?
- 📝 Can any sin be forgiven? (According to the teaching of the Catholic Church)
- 📝 How does 1 John 2:19 fit with the teaching that Christians can lose their salvation
- 📝 Have witches ever been executed by the Eastern Orthodox Church?
- 📝 Is the Eastern Orthodox Church independent from regional governments?
- 📝 Under Catholic dogma can someone publicly rebuke the Pope like Paul rebuked Peter?
- 📝 When did the teaching that salvation can still be obtained by people after their physical death first appear in Christianity?
- 📝 Why are the bread and wine mixed together in the Holy Eucharist during an Eastern Orthodox Divine Liturgy?
- 📝 Why does the Eastern Orthodox Church dislike the idea that the Spirit proceeds from the Son?
- 📝 According to Protestants, what "new" things has the Eastern Orthodox Church acquired over time?
- 📝 What's the name of this doctrine and (when) did the Eastern Orthodox Church condemn it?
- 📝 When were the Fasting Patterns of the Eastern Orthodox Church Established?
- 📝 What is the Catholic response to the Eastern Orthodox view that the Immaculate Conception remove Jesus' ability to redeem all of humanity?
- 📝 What did Luther think of the Eastern Orthodox and vice versa?
- 📝 To whom do the Eastern Orthodox Church's believe the "Keys to the Kingdom" were given by Jesus?
- 📝 Why does the Eastern Orthodox church forbid blind men from becoming priests?
- 📝 Was there ever a "Martin Luther" or a reformation in the Eastern Orthodox Church?
- 📝 What were the common exonyms of the Roman Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox churches leading up to and after the Great Schism (1054)?
- 📝 Can someone point to a prophecy about the 3 days between the cross and resurrection?
- 📝 What are the requirements for establishing an Eastern Orthodox church or mission?
- 📝 Is the Eastern Orthodox doctrine of "the Monarchy of the Father" consistent with the Athanasian creed?
- 📝 Why aren't the Oriental and Eastern Orthodox Churches in communion with each other?
- 📝 How do the Eastern Orthodox interpret this verse from Psalm 69:3?
- 📝 What objective, foolproof method do Eastern Orthodox have for working out which side is correct in the case of a Schism?
