  In his correspondence with Leibniz, Clarke defends what has become  known as an absolute theory of space and time. The version championed by Clarke on Newton’s behalf might briefly be characterized for our  purposes as having four central theses. First, space and time are  logically and metaphysically prior to physical bodies and events.  That is to say, although space and time could exist even if there  were no physical bodies or events, the existence of things like  planets and flashes could not exist without space and time. Second,  physical bodies and events exist within space and time  – the beach ball is collocated with a region of space equal to  its volume; the explosion endures through a determinate measure of  absolute time. Third, although we may distinguish regions, or  “parts,” of space and time, neither space nor time  strictly speaking are divisible since no region of space or time  could be separated, or “pulled apart,” from any other  region. Fourth, ontologically speaking, space and time may be  identified with attributes of God: infinite space just is the  attribute of God’s Immensity, while infinite time just is  the attribute of God’s Eternity. 