Table Of Content

The Everlasting and the Eternal Also by James Kellenberger THE COGNITIVITY OF RELIGION: Three Perspectives DYING TO SELF AND DETACHMENT GOD-RELATIONSHIPS WITH AND WITHOUT GOD KIERKEGAARD AND NIETZSCHE: Faith and Eternal Acceptance MORAL RELATIVISM, MORAL DIVERSITY, AND HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS RELATIONSHIP MORALITY RELIGIOUS DISCOVERY, FAITH, AND KNOWLEDGE The Everlasting and the Eternal James Kellenberger California State University, USA © James Kellenberger 2015 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2015 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN: 978–1–137–55329–4 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Kellenberger, James. The everlasting and the eternal / James Kellenberger, California State University, USA. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978–1–137–55329–4 1. Eternity. I. Title. BT913.K45 2015 2029.3—dc23 2015018585 To Anne Contents Acknowledgments viii Introduction 1 1 The Eternal and the Everlasting 9 2 Things That Are Eternal 27 3 Eternal Life 39 4 Eternal Life in This Life 64 5 Interior Modes of Eternal Life 96 6 Active Modes of Eternal Life 113 7 Perigeal Modes of Eternal Life and Issues 132 8 Life after Death and Eternal Life 152 Bibliography 179 Index 185 vii Acknowledgments Some of the material in Chapter 4 is adapted from ‘God’s Goodness and God’s Evil’ – which was previously published in Religious Studies, 2 (1) (March 2005), and is used by permission. I am grateful to Brendan George and Esme Chapman at Palgrave Macmillan for their advice and support and to Vidhya Jayaprakash for so ably seeing the book through production. viii Introduction The relationship between the eternal and the everlasting is multi- farious. In some religious settings, they seem to be interchangeable. In others, they are distinguishable and very different. At times, they seem to overlap in their meanings and even approach synonymy. At other times, they are radically opposed, not only in their logical sense but also in their religious significance. Each is deeply embedded in religious sensibilities; however, these sensibilities are themselves divergent. It is evident that the eternal is a religious category. God is spoken of as eternal in both Christian and Jewish scriptures. In Buddhism, ultimate reality or d harmakāya is ‘the eternal Buddha nature.’1 It is equally evident that the everlasting is a religious category. It informs and enlivens a religious expectation of a life after death free of tribu- lation and adversity, which St. Augustine in the Christian tradition allows us to hope for and which is encouraged in the Qur’an in the Islamic tradition. Although there are two terms, at times in religious scriptures it does not seem to matter whether ‘eternal’ or ‘everlasting’ is used. Toward the end of the book of Deuteronomy, Moses blesses the children of 1 John Hick, A n Interpretation of Religion , 2nd ed. (New Haven, CT and London: Yale University Press, 2004), p. 284. Some scholars of Buddhism equate the essence of the universe, dharmakāya, with the Dharma Body and do not apply “eternal” to it. Roy C. Amore and Julia Ching, ‘The Buddhist Tradition,’ in World Religions: Eastern Traditions, 2nd ed., ed. Willard G. Oxtoby (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), p. 244. 1