A Seminar Paper On

Topic: Concept of Time in Christianity and Modern Cosmology

Subject: Science and Religion
Submitted To: Rev. Bobby S Mathew Submitted By: Danies Wilson

Introduction
A remarkable exploration may be found when examining the idea of time in both current
cosmology and Christianity. Christianity views time as a purposeful, linear process that
includes creation, salvation, and a predetermined end. Modern cosmology, on the other hand,
is based on scientific investigation and sees time as a flexible dimension moulded by
quantum physics and relativity. This seminar paper explores the subtle connections and
differences between these perspectives, providing insights into the ways in which scientific
and theological paradigms overlap or diverge while attempting to explain the enigmatic
nature of time.

1. Time
The most significant aspect of history is time, which gives it identity by setting it apart from
the present and the future. Nobody has been able to define "time" up until this point, but
everyone, living or dead, has experienced it firsthand from start to finish. It is astonishing to
learn that historians have paid very little attention to time, despite the fact that it is the central
theme of all historical works. Before historians, literary scholars were the ones to take up the
topic of time.1

1.1. Biblical Concept of Time

God created the concept of time for humanity in Genesis 1:14–19. But since God is love,
spirit, and light, He exists in and at the speed of light (1 John 4:8, 16; John 4:23–24; 1 John
1:5). The speed of light has the property of not having time, but rather eternity or infinity,
according to Albert Einstein's ―Theory of Relativity. This is consistent with Moses'
description of God in Psalm 90:2. Since this insight, the meaning of time is found in God's
creation, as demonstrated by Ecclesiastes 8:5–6 and Proverbs 16:4.2

1.1.1. Old Testament Concept of Time

The term et, which can signify linear time but is more frequently linked with specific
occurrences and is translated as kairos in Greek, is the primary Hebrew word for the Old
Testament biblical idea of time. In Hebrew, yom can also refer to a time interval, usually
defined as a day or today.3 There are various theological interpretations of time that are

1
Mamata Nanda, “Periodizing Time: The Concept of Time in History,” An International Refereed Research
Journal 8, no. 26 (January 2018): 21–24, 21.
2
David K. Hebert, “The Need for Teaching the Eschatological Gospel of Both Comings of Jesus Christ in the
Twenty-First Century, Especially as We See the Day of His Parousia Approaching” thesis, University of South
Africa, 2009, 27.
3
David K. Hebert, “The Need for Teaching the Eschatological Gospel…, 27-28.

1
grounded in the Hebraic, Old Testament concept. Gerhard von Rad (1961) provides one
example: according to him, time is linked to particular historical "salvation acts" performed
by Yahweh in shaping Israel's history (including commemorations such as weekly Sabbaths
and annual Feasts) and prophetically pointing to future "salvation acts" that God will perform
for Israel following His judgement of Israel for its transgressions. This progressive
perspective assumes an eschatological flavour, but only inasmuch as it relates to what God
will do redemptively through the experiences of future Israel.4 Claus Westermann provides
an additional example in his 1962 book A Thousand Years and a Day: Our Time in the Old
Testament, which is based on Psalm 90:1-4 of Moses. According to this perspective, time is
defined as the idea of a millennium of Old Testament history preceding the single day of
Messiah Jesus' crucifixion.5 Walther Eichrodt provides a last example. In his Theology of the
Old Testament, he expresses time in three ways: first, God deals with the world through
signs, wonders, and nature; second, God deals with each individual person (1961 and 1967).
Finally, God deals with the chosen people through covenants. These conceptions of time are
undoubtedly connected to the Old Testament understanding of Hebrew time, but they ignore
the shift in viewpoint brought about by Daniel's prophesies, notably the future timeframes for
the Jews in Daniel 9 and 12 and the Gentiles in Daniel 2, 7, 8, 10, and 11.6

1.1.2. New Testament Concept of Time

In light of its New Testament eschatological perspective, there are further theological
conceptions of time. First, there are perspectives on how humans live in a present that is
affected by the coexistence of temporal time and eternity in the future; this is referred to as "a
Christian shape to time" by Baukham and Hart (2000:72). Then there are perspectives that
distinguish the divine eternity of the Creator from temporal (made) time. These ideas exhort
theologians not to strive to spatialize time and eternity, but to allow God to fit the eschaton—
the end of time and history and the beginning of a “new heaven and a new earth”—into His
divine time for mankind (Van den Brom 2000:167).7

1.2. The Beginning and the End

One thing is certain: the Scriptures distinguish between "temporal" and "eternal." According
to Paul, things that are visible are "temporal," while those that are invisible are "eternal" (2
Cor. 4:18). The psalmist states, "From everlasting to everlasting, you are God." In
characterising God. (Psalms 90:2). There is no end to eternity, yet there are "beginnings" and
"ends" to time. The first line of the Bible is found in Genesis 1:1: "In the beginning, God
created the heavens and the earth." "But from the beginning of the creation, Male and Female
made he them," Jesus reportedly said (Mk. 10:6). In contrast, there will be a conclusion of
sorts. According to Christ, the "harvest" in the Parable of the Tares signifies the "end of the
world" (Mt. 13:39). In another instance, the Lord declared, "He who rejects me and does not

4
David K. Hebert, “The Need for Teaching the Eschatological Gospel…, 29.
5
David K. Hebert, “The Need for Teaching the Eschatological Gospel…, 29.
6
David K. Hebert, “The Need for Teaching the Eschatological Gospel…, 29-30.
7
David K. Hebert, “The Need for Teaching the Eschatological Gospel…, 30.

2
accept my teachings has one who judges him; the word that I spoke will judge him on the last
day" (Jn. 12:48).8

1.3. Flow of Time

Some people have had a different understanding of "time" than what the Bible says, both in
the ancient world and in the present. While many have argued that time is cyclic, meaning it
entails a sequence of revolutions that occur again, the Scriptures depict time as a linear
experience. Time can be seen of as a historical period that begins with creation (Gen. 1:1) and
ends (insofar as it pertains to its current structure) with Christ's second advent, which will
mark the end of the current world order (cf. 2 Pet. 3:8–13). Alternatively, it might be
explained by arguing that "time" is a historical interlude contained within eternity.9

1.4. Concept of Time in Christianity

Time is important to Christianity. Therefore, it is impossible to approach the main theme
without having a basic understanding of what Christianity as a whole is all about. Time and
Christian experience, in my opinion, combine uniquely in the Christian understanding of
revelation. At what point did Jesus Christ declare, "I am, before Abraham came to be"? (John
8:58)? How would one respond to this query? The time aspect of history is addressed with the
question "When?" Maybe first, we should view this as a historical text with a date and
provenance that can be assigned. It is a text that comes from an institutional history that we
are learning more and more about, and beneath that, it comes from the discipleship of a
historical figure—Jesus son of Mary. The passage claims to quote this Jesus as saying the
relevant line at a certain point in his real life, which would put it about the year 30 of the
common period.10

1.5. God’s Relation to Time

Theism is the idea that there's a special person called God who made everything in the world.
If someone doesn't believe in this person, they're called atheists. People who believe in God
think about how God is connected to the world. They think about how God is connected to
everything, like people, things, and events, and also to the way the world is set up, like time
and space. Some people think that God made space and time, while others think they were
already there and God just works within them. Most experts think that God made space but
not time. They think God exists outside of space, but inside time. Long ago, smart thinkers
like Augustine and Thomas Aquinas said God doesn't exist in time at all. They said God is
forever and doesn't change with time. Nowadays, most experts believe God does exist in

8
Wayne Jackson, “The Biblical Concept of ‘Time,’” Christian Courier, accessed December 10, 2023,
https://christiancourier.com/articles/the-biblical-concept-of-time.
9
Wayne Jackson, “The Biblical Concept of ‘Time, Accessed on December 10, 2023.
10
Peter Manchester, “Time in Christianity,” Religion and Time, 1993, 109–37,
doi:10.1163/9789004378773_006, 109-110.

3
time, but he's always been there and won't ever stop being there. So, even though God is part
of time, he's not like us. He's always been here and always will be.11

2. Cosmology
Cosmology is a branch of astronomy that involves the origin and evolution of the universe,
from the Big Bang to today and on into the future. According to NASA, the definition of
cosmology is "the scientific study of the large scale properties of the universe as a whole."12

2.1. Time in Modern Cosmology

In modern cosmology, we've made progress in understanding some big questions about time.
For instance, we now know that the universe isn't eternal; it has a beginning, which happened
about 13.7 billion years ago. We can think of time in the universe as a sort of universal clock
that started ticking at the "big bang." This means events in the universe can be lined up in
order using this cosmic time. But there are still some unanswered questions, like whether the
universe will keep going forever or if it will eventually come to an end. Scientists believe
they can figure this out by measuring how much stuff, like matter and energy, is in the
universe. If there's enough, the universe will stop expanding and start collapsing back in on
itself, leading to something called a "big crunch." So, while we've made strides in
understanding time in the universe, there are still mysteries waiting to be unraveled through
observation and study.13

2.1.1. Cosmic Time

The universe is like a big time machine, where everything holds information about the past,
present, and future. Causality, or cause and effect, is crucial for understanding how things
happen in the cosmos, affecting everything from the formation of galaxies to other physical
processes. Even though time might seem different for different observers, there's a universal
cosmic time that everyone experiences. This means that no matter where you are or when you
look, the universe seems the same in every direction. Scientists use equations like the
Friedman-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker equation to understand the shape of the universe,
which is based on ideas like Weyl's postulate and the cosmological principle. These
principles help us coordinate observations and measure time by looking at things like the
density of matter or the temperature of cosmic background radiation.14

2.1.2. Causality
The FLRW metric is like a map that shows how space and time are arranged in the universe.
It doesn't care about what stuff is in the universe, just how space and time are set up. The

11
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, accessed December 12, 2023, https://iep.utm.edu/god-time/.
12
Nola Taylor Tillman and Ailsa Harvey, “What Is Cosmology? Definition & History,” Space.Com, Last modified
February 21, 2022, https://www.space.com/16042-cosmology.html.
13
Chris Smeenk, Time in Cosmology, accessed December 6, 2023,
https://publish.uwo.ca/~csmeenk2/files/Time_in_Cosmology.pdf.
14
Amedeo Balbi, “Cosmology and Time,” EPJ Web of Conferences 58 (2013): 02004,
doi:10.1051/epjconf/20135802004.

4
Friedman equation helps us understand how the universe changes over time by looking at
how fast it's expanding, which is like how fast a balloon blows up. As the universe expands,
everything moves away from everything else. This expansion affects how things are in the
universe as time goes on. When we look back in time, the math says there might have been a
start, but it's not clear. The laws of physics get fuzzy when we try to understand the very
early universe, so we don't know if time began or if the universe has always been around. We
can only see a part of the universe because of what we call the cosmic horizon. This suggests
our piece of the universe has existed for a certain time, but we're not sure if the rest of the
universe has been here forever.15

2.1.3. Timescales
In the big bang model, where the universe expands, time behaves in a unique way. The pace
at which time moves changes as the universe evolves, marked by what's called the Hubble
time, determined by the Hubble parameter. This means that different events in the universe
may happen at different rates compared to our everyday experience of time. As the universe
expands, various physical processes may fall out of balance because their typical time scales
become longer than the Hubble time. This contrasts with older ideas like the steady-state
model, where the universe had a constant expansion rate. The Hubble time also gives us an
estimate for the age of the universe, around 13.7 billion years. Interestingly, the coincidence
that the Hubble time is roughly equivalent to the age of the universe in our current
understanding isn't necessarily fundamental; it's more like a lucky accident. The fact that
these two timescales align so closely might hint at something deeper about the nature of the
universe, raising intriguing questions about its initial conditions and implications for
fundamental models. Additionally, it's interesting to note that the timescale for the lifespan of
a typical star is remarkably close to the present value of the Hubble time, which adds weight
to the big bang model's explanation for the universe's history and the emergence of intelligent
life.16

2.1.4. Multiverse and Past

The idea of multiverses suggests that our universe, as we know it, might just be one of many
universes out there. This concept has become quite popular in the field of cosmology and
theoretical physics. One reason for this interest is the theory of inflation, which suggests that
the universe expanded rapidly in its early stages. According to this theory, during this
expansion, other "bubble universes" could have formed, each existing as its own separate
space with its own set of physical laws. These universes would be completely isolated from
each other, like separate bubbles in a foam. This idea is taken seriously because inflation is a
key part of our current understanding of the universe. Exploring the concept of a multiverse

15
Amedeo Balbi, “Cosmology and Time”
16
Amedeo Balbi, “Cosmology and Time”

5
opens up exciting new possibilities for understanding time and the nature of existence,
although this area of research is still relatively new and ongoing.17

3. Comparison Between Time in Christianity and Modern Cosmology

Time is a concept that holds significance in both Christianity and modern cosmology, yet
their perspectives diverge. In Christianity, time is often perceived as linear, with a clear
beginning and end, rooted in the creation story where God is portrayed as the creator of both
the universe and time itself. Time in Christian theology is closely intertwined with religious
beliefs and narratives, serving as a framework through which divine intervention shapes
human history towards a predetermined outcome. The concept of eternity, representing a
timeless existence beyond earthly time, is central to Christian doctrine, encompassing notions
of heaven, hell, and the afterlife. Conversely, modern cosmology treats time as a fundamental
aspect of the universe, linked to space within the framework of spacetime. The Big Bang
theory posits a finite beginning to the universe approximately 13.7 billion years ago, though
the concept of time before this event remains uncertain. Time in cosmology is dynamic and
evolving, influenced by gravitational forces and studied empirically through observation and
mathematical models. While Christianity views time as finite and leading towards a
predetermined end, modern cosmology sees it as infinite and open-ended, with ongoing
research exploring the fate and nature of the universe.18

Conclusion
In conclusion, the concept of time in Christianity and modern cosmology reveals both
similarities and contrasts, reflecting diverse perspectives on the nature of existence and the
universe. Christianity portrays time within a religious framework, emphasizing its linear
progression and divine significance in guiding human history towards a predetermined end.
Conversely, modern cosmology views time as a dynamic aspect of the universe, intimately
connected to space within the framework of spacetime, and studied empirically through
observation and mathematical models. While both acknowledge the importance of time,
Christianity emphasizes its theological implications, including notions of eternity and divine
purpose, while modern cosmology explores time scientifically, probing its dynamics and
implications for the universe's evolution. Through understanding the concept of time in both
contexts, we gain insights into fundamental questions about existence, purpose, and the
nature of reality.

17
Craig Callender and C. D. McCoy, “Time in Cosmology,” Core.Ac.Uk, accessed December 6, 2023,
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/295731706.pdf.
18
Text Generated by ChatGPT, December 07 2023, OpenAI, https://chat.openai.com/

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Bibliography

Hebert, David K. “The Need for Teaching the Eschatological Gospel of Both Comings of
Jesus Christ in the Twenty-First Century, Especially as We See the Day of His Parousia
Approaching.” Thesis, University of South Africa, 2009.

Articles

Balbi, Amedeo. “Cosmology and Time.” EPJ Web of Conferences 58 (2013): 02004.
doi:10.1051/epjconf/20135802004.

Brout, R., and R. Parentani. “Time in Cosmology.” International Journal of Modern Physics
D 08, no. 01 (February 1999): 1–22. doi:10.1142/s0218271899000031.

Manchester, Peter. “Time in Christianity.” Religion and Time, January 1, 1993, 109–37.
doi:10.1163/9789004378773_006.

Nanda, Mamata. “Periodizing Time: The Concept of Time in History.” An International

Refereed Research Journal 8, no. 26 (January 2018): 21–24.

Webliography

Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Accessed December 6, 2023. https://iep.utm.edu/god-

time/.