The Everlasting and the Eternal

201 Pages·2015·3.226 MB·English

by  James Kellenberger

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
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First published 2015 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
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registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke,
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ISBN: 978–1–137–55329–4
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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