I suppose I should refer to circling forward as spiraling, but that just doesn't seem to do justice to the idea that pushed its way into my head last night.
Ancient Israel, according to Grenz & Franke's Beyond Foundationalism was "set apart from the surrounding peoples" because they reached an "understanding of time as a linear historical span." In other words, they had a "development of a historical consciousness" (p. 254). Their history became "pregnant with future" to quote Jurgen Moltmann's Theology of Hope. The nations surrounding ancient Israel lived with a cyclical view of time, meaning their concept of time was based on a recurring yearly pattern. This can be seen in the Canaanite rituals in which the god of death (Mot) and the god of fertility (Baal) battle continually, with Baal winning in the winter (with new rains for the crops) and Mot winning in the summer (drought). Grenz and Franke claim Israel surpassed this belief with their linear view of time. I would half agree.
I believe Israel, as well as Christ-followers today, was cycling forward. This is most obvious with the Sabbath. With sabbath time we live in is cyclical as well as linear time. These two dimensions of time are held together in unity within Sabbath living. This is where we gain a "sanctuary in time," as Rabbi Heschel calls it in The Sabbath (p. 29). Sabbath cycles with the continual motion of six days of work, one day of Sabbath. It works God's followers into a pattern in which they find the flow of the Spirit working on a daily and weekly basis.
But Sabbath also is linear, not to mention eschatological. The day of Jubilee is the best example of this. It is the Sabbath event of seven Sabbath years. Every 49 or 50 years (there is still debate over the math) the Day of Shofar (or Jubilee) would occur and equality would occur. For God's followers this was something to be looked forward to with great anticipation, and they counted their cycles as they moved closer to an event in linear time. The two are brought together in this culmination of Sabbath days and years.
Maybe it's not surpising to discover the eschaton itself is Sabbatical. Read Revelation and see the blowing of the trumpet, aka shofar. The Day of Jubilee is literally called the Day of Shofar because on that day the shofar would be blown. So the Day of Jubilee, the Sabbath of Sabbaths, points forward to the eschaton. It is the ultimate example of cycling forward. For the Christian it is the connection point between who we are and who we are becoming. It is an eschatological ontology, a cyclical way of life working in a linear fashion. We are made to cycle forward like the wheels on a car. I believe that this is how God wishes us to live.
I hope this isn't too metaphysical, but I have felt a deep need lately to explore the issue of time, and the books mentioned here really helped me pull some thoughts together about it. Hopefully I can comment some more on it soon; especially if I get any feedback.
Peace,
Matt
Currently Reading: The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel and Sabbath by Wayne Muller.
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Interesting stuff, Matt. I have also been pondering the concept of time lately. I'm realizing that a sense of time (be it cyclical or linear) is one of the few things that separates us from "eternal living"; plus sin and death, of course.
The explosion of quantum physics during the last several years is radically reforming scientific views of time, space, and matter. This is in turn affecting philosophy; the biggest effect seems to be that we can no longer be certain of the concrete and limited existence we used to think we had: that what we can physically sense is all that there is. Obviously this is nothing new to us religious types, but it's challenging the strict-materialist ideas that have pervaded the scientific community for centuries.
I have come to view time as a curious state of mind we humans have adopted in order to deal with the effects of the Fall: death and degradation. From what I understand, Eastern Orthodox theology holds that mankind was not solely affected by the Fall, but that all creation -- animals, plants, etc. -- was launched into a process of inevitable degradation (a.k.a. the Second Law of Thermodynamics) when man decided to turn from God. This is why we have "wilderness" instead of "paradise".
If we see the eventual coming of Christ as a restoration of creation to its original state, with immortality for mankind and all living things once again, then we see an escape from the time that we brought upon ourselves.
The Kingdom of the Heavens is upon us; let us live with a mind on eternity, seeing earthly death as merely a passing and time as merely a boundary that will one day be erased.
Okay, "time" to go.
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