Now and Forever: A Theological Aesthetics of Time

John E. Thiel's "Now and Forever" presents a Catholic eschatology that views earthly and heavenly life as gracefully continuous, arguing that time is best understood as the sacramental medium of God's grace to creation. This thesis develops an aesthetics that sees time as a creaturely reflection of God's Trinitarian life, emphasizing the beauty of eschatological time in its widest expanse and its manifestation in the diversity of temporal moments, human communities, and heavenly communion.

Format: Hardback
Length: 214 pages
Publication date: 03 April 2023
Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press

Building upon the profound insights of the ressourcement theology of grace, this intricate theological aesthetics presents a fresh perspective on the doctrine of creation by delving into the captivating beauty of time. Conventional eschatological accounts of life after death often highlight the stark discontinuity between earthly existence and the hereafter, where this life is subject to the vagaries of time, while life after death is portrayed as an unyielding eternity. In stark contrast to this prevailing viewpoint, John E. Thiel's groundbreaking work, Now and Forever, offers a Catholic eschatology that perceives earthly life and heavenly life as gracefully interconnected. This account presents a reimagining of time, which Thiel contends is best understood as the sacramental medium through which God's grace flows to creation. Thiel's project aims to redeem time from its Platonically negative resonance in the doctrine of creation, instead advocating for a Christian vision of time's beauty. Through this thesis, Thiel explicitly develops an aesthetics that views time as a creaturely reflection of God's own Trinitarian life. This thesis proceeds from the assumption that all time is eschatological time, guided by the attention to the temporality inherent in the virtue of hope, with its orientation toward a fulfilled future that culminates in resurrected life. This interpretation of the beauty of eschatological time in its broad expanse further amplifies the insight of ressourcement theology that grace permeates all existence, while also appreciating how time's graceful beauty manifests itself in the diverse temporal moments, human communities, and most fully in the heavenly communion of the saints.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780268205232