奧古斯丁時間哲學中的神學思想──以《懺悔錄》卷十一為主

The Theology of Augustine’s Time Philosophy－on Confession Book XI

奧古斯丁（St. Augustine，AD354-430）在《懺悔錄》（Confesssion）中，透過內省方式研究時間之流的思路及其對時間的追問，徹底改變古希臘人視時間為外在客觀物理之流的傳統時間觀，而轉向人類心靈（思想──意識）的伸展。這種將時間心理化，把時間視為心靈的伸展，都是以「現在」作為基點，所謂的「過去」是已發生的現在，「未來」是尚未發生的現在，一切都是永恆的，沒有過去、現在和未來之分，只有永遠的現在（the now of eternity），此種永遠的現在，正是上帝的永恆性。只有上帝可以稱為being，上帝「是」的方式是「永恆的現在」，而人類「是」的方式則是「時間」，是處於時中（being in the time）。人的「是」不斷地在時間裡「思」，人是在時間中思考的存有者，而人「是」的內容就是「思」，如此，人的「思」在「時」中，透過記憶，可以感到上帝臨在的「是」，達到某種密契經驗，如同奧古斯丁與母親兩人在奧斯蒂雅（Ostia）對（永恆）上帝的神祕體驗。本文試圖從「是」、「時」、「思」的脈絡著手，並以《懺悔錄》卷十一為主，找出奧氏對創世的時間解釋及其對時間本質的探索，說明奧氏時間哲學說中的神學思想，以作為理解其心靈三一論的背景知識。最後，論證奧氏始終是從永恆出發來演繹出時間，因此，追問時間的本質必須以尋找永恆為前提步驟；可以說，奧古斯丁是從維護上帝的存在角度去思考時間，人唯有在時間中（時），透過心靈的延展（思），才能感受到上帝永恆的being（是），他的時間哲學是在其心靈哲學中發現的，而心靈哲學則根源於神學。

St. Augustine (354-430 AD) in his Confession, through his interior quest, reflects on “what is time.” He has completely changed the Ancient Greek traditional about the concept of time which is considered to be an external and objective physical movement transformed into an internal conscious flow in the soul of human beings. Augustine sees time as basically “Now”. What we call “past” is the Now that has gone and “future” is the Now yet to come. More accurately speaking, there is no division between past, present and future. What really exists is “the duration of the Now.” It means “the now of eternity” which is the attribute of God’s aeviternity. Only God can be called “Being.” Owing to this existential mode, God is “the now of eternity.” As for humans, they are beings constantly in the process of “thinking” in time. Consequently, how humans are is the way they think. This thinking is kept in the memory and through memory human beings can perceive God’s merciful presence, which can lead to a mystical experience, such as the Ostia vision that Augustine and his mother have experienced. It is the mystical experience of the eternity of God. This paper aims to find out Augustine’s explanation of the Creation of the World and his reflection on the nature of time. It tries to reveal the philosophical elements in Augustine’s theology. In the understanding of Augustine’s Trinitarian theology, philosophy of mind serves as a necessary background and starting point. Finally, this paper argues that Augustine’s concept of time is derived from his notion of eternity. Therefore, question on the nature of time presupposes the quest for eternity. We can say that Augustine’s reflection on time is done against the background of eternity. Human beings can experience God as Eternal Being only when they reflect on time as the internal duration in the mind. His philosophy of time is thus discovered in his philosophy of the mind and the source of the latter is theology.