‘The Wheel of Time’ and the reality of the Incarnation

The Amazon Prime streaming service recently released the new series The Wheel of Time, the highly anticipated adaptation of the influential fantasy novels by the late Robert Jordan. Having watched the first few episodes, I have an initial feel for the series and its lore, as well as its tone. Discerning viewers should be made aware that Amazon’s Wheel of Time contains elements that are problematic for Christians but are unfortunately all too common in shows of this type, especially in the post-Game of Thrones era: gratuitous hyper-graphic violence, occasional nudity, and a distinctly un-Christian understanding of sexuality.

However, these issues are not the focus of my present analysis. Instead, I’d like to call attention to a key feature of the lore (also known as “worldbuilding”) of Robert Jordan’s fantasy universe: The way that time is conceptualized.

It’s right there in the title of the series: The Wheel of Time. According to this understanding, time is cyclical, like a massive wheel. My copy of the first Wheel of Time book, The Eye of the World, includes a helpful glossary that contains the following important definition:

Wheel of Time, the: Time is a wheel with seven spokes, each spoke an Age. As the Wheel turns, the Ages come and go, each leaving memories that fade into legend, then to myth, and are forgotten by the time that Age comes again. The Pattern of an Age is slightly different each time an Age comes, and each time it is subject to greater change, but each time it is the same Age.(The Eye of the World, p. 766)

In addition to being cyclical, time may also be eternal, as it is stated in an early passage: “There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time.” (The Eye of the World, p. 49) Reincarnation is also taken for granted in the series. These concepts are interesting for a fantasy setting, but in reality, they run contrary to a biblical understanding of creation and history.

We know from Scripture that the universe has a beginning. (cf. Genesis 1:1) Furthermore, we know that God has a specific plan in mind for history. As St. Paul teaches us, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman.” (Galatians 4:4) This is the doctrine of the Incarnation, handed on to us by Scripture and by the Church, inspired by the Holy Spirit. 

In a recent homily, Bishop Robert Barron eloquently explained the implications that the doctrine of the Incarnation has for the Christian conception of time. 

Bishop Barron states: “He [Jesus] came in history two thousand years ago, bringing Israel to its fulfillment, and becoming thereby the fulcrum of all history. He became the point by which we understand time.” Indeed, Christians still reckon years by the adventus of Christ, that is, his arrival, his birth in the little Judean town of Bethlehem. We speak of Before Christ (BC) and Anno Domini/Year of the Lord (AD). 

As Bishop Barron goes on to elucidate, the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ is “the still point around which all of history revolves,” and that “for Christians, history has a trajectory. It’s not just one thing after another. Nor is it just a cyclical return of the same, a constant repetition over and over again… [History] is moving somewhere, it’s moving towards its culmination.”

This culmination point is Christ’s Second Coming at the end of time. This second coming is no reincarnation. Christ will not return to us as a baby in a manger, but as the Risen Lord, in glory and power. (cf. Matthew 24:30)

During this Advent season, as the Church prepares for the celebration of the Lord’s Nativity at Christmas, we would do well to ponder the mystery of Christ’s Incarnation in history and his future Second Coming. And we can give thanks to Almighty God that he created a universe that, unlike in The Wheel of Time,is not an endlessly repeating cycle of death and reincarnation but a story whose author is moving it towards its ultimate conclusion in the fullness of time.