St. Augustine's Analysis of Time

Paper Summary:

The paper analyzes how St. Augustine viewed time. The paper demonstrates that Augustine, seeing God as outside of (and having created) time, and man living constrained by it, views time as a way of defining man's relationship to God. The paper presents Augustine's three forms of time and shows how they relate to the question of predestination and free will. The paper concludes that Augustine's investigation into time was not for the sake of studying the topic of time itself, but rather for the sake of learning to fulfill God's will.

From the Paper:

"What Augustine seems to be so perplexed about is to decipher exactly what the present is, and how it is so fleeting as to be past in a fleeting moment, and what is then to become the present was the future only a moment ago. This is not a semantic argument. It is one of Augustine coming to grips with the problems of where Man has his place in the world. Being created by God is not sufficient. He has a role to play, and the time to do so. But, what of the past? In other words, what of the deeds and actions Man has already done? And, how will the past affect the future? The future, after all, is where eternity will be spent, and God's eternity is a promise held out by a sin-free loving Christian life. So, what does time really matter? How does the difference between the past and the future coalesce, somehow, in a present that hardly exists?"

More papers on St. Augustine's Analysis of Time:

• Analytical Essay # 149906 : "A Narrative Analysis of "Time and the Machine"
• Comparison Essay # 50079 : "Medieval Birth Control"
• Comparison Essay # 52836 : "Calvin and Plato"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: