Confessions by Augustine — BOOK XI: Time and Eternity

1. 1. Augustine argues that God's eternity is not temporal; God sees all events in a single, unchanging present.
2. 2. Augustine asserts that time itself is a creation of God, and there was no time before creation.
3. 3. Augustine defines time as a 'distension' (distentio) of the mind, measured through memory, attention, and expectation.
4. 4. Augustine rejects the idea that time is the movement of heavenly bodies, using the example of the sun standing still during Joshua's battle.
5. 5. Augustine concludes that the present moment has no duration; it is an infinitesimal point between past and future.
6. 6. Augustine describes human life as a 'distension' or scattering across time, contrasting it with God's eternal unity.
7. 7. Augustine argues that God's knowledge of future and past is not like human knowledge, which involves expectation and memory.