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St. Augustine Book 11 Analysis

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Chiamaka Ekwueme
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The Confessions of St. Augustine : Book 11 Summary

St. Augustine mainly focuses on time, creation and the beginning in book 11.
He begins with Genesis in order to explain the separation of God from his creation because God is eternal while his creation seems to be temporary. St. Augustine tries to show that the words of Genesis should not be taken in a literal manner but in a spiritual one because God did not create the heavens and the earth as though he is a craftsman.
He also presents that God’s word of creation is not ordinary word but eternal word because a regular being cannot just say “let there be light and there would be light” and also because the “word” is spoken endlessly, it is not dynamic, it does not change. He puts it to a test that God’s beginning does not necessarily mean the beginning we assume and conclude. He believes “beginning” means something …show more content…

He considers two arguments in this book, the first stating that what we know and believe about everyday time may be wrong, but we all believe it and communicate with each other through it. The second argument stating that the movement of the sun, stars and heavenly bodies may also be inaccurate as well. He believes that there was a time before God but it was not called time or regarded as time because time had not yet existed.
He confesses that time is an extension or distension of the mind by using the Latin word “distentio”. He often asks God for wisdom as he wrote this book because he himself got confused at times. St. Augustine further argues that time is an illusion created by the mind to understand things that the human brain cannot find answers or solutions to. He observes three functions of the mind that further affirm this argument. The first function is attention, which emphasizes the present. The second function is memory, which focuses on the past and the third which regards the

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