Eastern Standard Time or... Hebrew Time?

In my OT501 class the prof was discussing the Jewish contribution to our Western view of time as linear. Prior to Hebrew theology (and later Jewish metaphysics), the predominant standard (Eastern) view of time was cyclical.

"There was morning and there was evening..."

"Summer and Winter and Springtime and Harvest..."

Day gives way to night, warm yields to cold, leaves fall and then grow again. And in the same way, when man dies, it's

"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust..."

"Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart..."

And yet, even with all this cyclicality embedded in the Scriptures, the Judeo-Christian worldview is one of linearity. The cosmos had a beginning, and it will have an end. God started something, and will finish it. Jesus came, left, and will return. You get the idea. So, how are we to reconcile these two concepts?

As usual, I, um... have an idea. :)

Picture a spiral - a circular motion around an axis. (I believe the technical term is parallel helix.)



The axis serves as an anchor about which the spiral cycles.



But, if the axis also has a trajectory...

voila! We have a spiral that is going somewhere! Linearity with cyclicality. Observe:



And so Solomon is right in saying: "To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under Heaven." There is a rhythm to life, human beings share common experiences from one generation to the next: growth, maturity, decline. Life has repeating patterns, but... like a river that flows, the water is never quite the same from moment to moment, as it rolls on to the sea.

So with us. Time is both linear AND cyclical.