Augustine's the man

I've been reading up on physics, cosmology etc. getting primed for Science Camp. I was re-reading Stephen Hawking's "A Brief History of Time" and came across something interesting. And that is: how 1,600 years ago, a Christian Philospher grasped something about the nature of time that Albert Einstein finally proved. Here is Hawking talking about how other philosophers and scientists really weren't getting it even in Newton's time. That time is a construct of the universe: "This was first pointed out by St. Augustine. When asked: 'What did God do before he created the universe?' Augustine didn’t reply: 'He was preparing Hell for people who asked such questions.' Instead, he said that time was a property of the universe that God created, and that time did not exist before the beginning of the universe." Pretty good for 400 AD. Here's a link to a discussion on "City of God" by Augustine. And here's a link to "A Brief History of Time" for your reading pleasure.

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