On Sun, 31 Mar 2002, D. F. Siemens, Jr. wrote (quoting Howard?):
> On this last, I suspect that Augustine's wisecrack in answer to the
> question what God was doing before he created: "He was making hell for
> those who ask such questions." I note that there is a relevant difference
> between a timeless deity and one temporally eternal. The latter, which
> panentheism demands, involves an infinite regress or sorts. The former
> does not. I think Aristotle's eternal pair of Pure Form and Prime Matter
> make better sense than the process view.
It seems that this story has gotten twisted. Augustine's answer was based
on his assertion that God created time, and he dissociated himself from
those who would give a facetious answer. Here is a quotation from Book XI
of The Confessions of Saint Augustine:
See, I answer him that asketh, "What did God before He made heaven and
earth?" I answer not as one is said to have done merrily (eluding the
pressure of the question), "He was preparing hell (saith he) for pryers
into mysteries." It is one thing to answer enquiries, another to make
sport of enquirers.
Gordon Brown
Department of Mathematics
University of Colorado
Boulder, CO 80309-0395
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