Augustine on Time and Eternity

Galatians 4:4

Augustine's Influence and Historical Context

• Augustine as an intellectual power and church father
• Comparison with other church fathers
• Augustine's discussion of time and eternity
• Historical context of Augustine's life and times

Eschaton and Historical Fluidity

• Explanation of "eschaton" and its significance
• Augustine's world as a pivotal intersection of historical epochs
• The sack of Rome by Alaric the Visigoth and its impact

Augustine's Response to the Fall of Rome

• Augustine's work "The City of God" as a response to the sack of Rome
• Criticism against Christians and Augustine's defense

Augustine's Exploration of Time

• Opening of Book XI of the Confessions
• Augustine's devotional approach to discussing time and eternity
• The heart's restlessness and the search for God

The Nature of Time

• The evanescence of time and its elusive quality
• Augustine's analysis of past, present, and future
• The psychological understanding of time as a tension within consciousness

Time as a Creature of God

• Augustine's view of time and the world as co-created by God
• Refutation of the idea of time as a primordial container
• Augustine's original insights on the co-extensiveness of time and the world

Children's Questions on Creation

• Three questions often asked by children:
  1. What was God doing before He made the world?
  2. What did God use to make the world?
  3. Why did God make the world?
• Augustine's answers to these questions

The Incarnation and Redemption

• The Christian doctrine of the Incarnation
• The significance of Christ's entry into time and history
• Eliot's poetry on the Incarnation

Living in Time with Eternity in Mind

• Christians' attitude toward time: neither panic nor indifference, but hope
• The temporal and eternal aspects of Christian life
• Paul's teachings in 1 Corinthians 7:29-31
• Dante's vision of divine love and the beatific vision

Conclusion

• The cosmic Christ and the journey towards the beatific vision

*The above summary is AI-generated, so discrepancies may exist. Please refer to the audio or video file to verify accuracy.