Gordon,
Thanks for the correction.
Dave
On Mon, 1 Apr 2002 08:44:56 -0700 (MST) gordon brown
<gbrown@euclid.Colorado.EDU> writes:
>
>
> 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
>
>
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Apr 01 2002 - 16:47:06 EST