Splendid Formation

Saint Augustine on Time and Eternity: A Restless Soul’s Vision of the Eternal Now

In Confessions Book XI, Augustine invites us into one of the most beautiful meditations ever written on time and God’s eternity.

He begins with humble honesty:
“What is time? If no one asks me, I know what it is, but if someone asks me to explain it, I find myself at a loss for words.”

For us humans, time is a distension of the soul — stretched between memory of the past and expectation of the future, leaving us fragmented and restless in a present that constantly slips away.

Yet for God, there is only the perfect, unchanging Eternal Now:
“In eternity nothing passes away, but the whole is present… Your today is eternity.”

Our scattered, temporal lives are lovingly held within His timeless presence. Time itself is a creature — a gift from the Eternal One.
This truth brings such peace. Our restlessness is not meaningless, but a holy homesickness calling us home.

A Gentle Audio Companion For a soothing narration of these ideas: Fall Asleep to Augustine’s Philosophy & Theology by Sleepy Philosophy.
https://youtu.be/JWKYYfQY3uA?si=pIH2rLQGGpiq2FTl

Full text in Confessions Book XI: https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/schaff-a-select-library-of-the-nicene-and-post-nicene-fathers-of-the-christian-church-vol-1

What stirs in your heart when you reflect on time and eternity? 💛

A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Vol. 1 | Online Library of Liberty This volume contains St. Augustine’s famous “Confessions” and numerous letters.

Something interesting found at Liberty Fund
How curious, he was called a humanist and a Catholic Priest. The writing is lovely. The imagined speaker is Peace.

Interesting to learn that:
"At the time of Erasmus (late 15th–early 16th century), being called a “humanist” had a very specific, positive, and scholarly meaning — quite different from today’s usage.
In the Renaissance, a humanist was a scholar and educator who devoted himself to the studia humanitatis — the “studies of humanity” or the humanities. This curriculum centered on the recovery and teaching of classical Greek and Roman literature, language, rhetoric, poetry, history, and moral philosophy."

The Complaint of Peace
Desiderius Erasmus

Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466 – 1536), also known as Erasmus of Rotterdam, was a Dutch Renaissance humanist, Catholic priest, theologian, and scholar who became one of the most influential intellectuals of his time.

The Complaint of Peace | Online Library of Liberty The Reformation scholar Desiderius Erasmus portrays Peace visiting to earth to deliver her verdict on the human race. She chastises kings and princes, church leaders, noblemen and ordinary soldiers alike for betraying their Christian values by waging unjust and unnecessary wars. “This translation ...

Easy on the ears! Excellent synopsis of the works by Augustine!

Fall Asleep to Augustine of Hippo's Complete Philosophy and Theology | Faith, Reason & Grace Tonight on Sleepy Philosophy, we’re resting in the gentle wisdom of Augustine of Hippo — one of history’s greatest minds in Christian philosophy and theology...

🥀 Your mind is worth it! (Link to Video Series in Comments)

Podcast Series:

A recap of Michael Munger's podcast exploration of Wealth of Nations on the book's 250th anniversary.

Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations was first published on March 9, 1776 and was widely available by July of that year.

In honor of the book's 250th anniversary, AdamSmithWorks joined with Michael Munger of Duke University to present an in-depth background, analysis, and assessment of The Wealth of Nations. The book sought to explain the sources of prosperity in commercial societies and remains foundational for modern economics. Over ten episodes, this podcast series traces Smith’s argument from its intellectual roots in the Scottish Enlightenment to its continuing relevance in contemporary economic debates.

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