Book XI Summary and Analysis

Augustine makes a long philosophical commentary on the beginning of the Scriptures, the Old Testament book of Genesis. It is the story of the creation of the world. In the beginning, God created the word. But did he exist doing nothing? Why did he suddenly decide to create the Heavens and the Earth? Augustine then argues against this idea. Before the Heavens and the Earth existed, there were no cycles of the sun, the moon, or the planets. There was really no measurement of the ages of time at all. So no one knows if any time had passed, and anyway, no one besides God existed. So there was no time that existed for nothing to be done.

As far as time exists, it passes from the past into the future. The present only exists by going into non-existence...