Argument 'zašto ne ranije?' u antici i ranom hrišćanstvu

Abstract

Argument 'why not sooner' was in antiquity an argument against the possibility of a beginning for the universe. Some philosophers in antic and Hellenistic period have claimed that impossibility to give answer on this question show us that universe has no beginning, and that universe, therefore, is temporally eternal. If we postulate a beginning for the universe, there is no reason why it should not have began earlier than the time we suppose it began. Early Christian thinkers are trying to give arguments on this question under the assumption of the Christian dogma that universe was created by God ex nihilo. They have combined this question with the questions like question 'what was God doing before he created the universe?'. Their answer is also that there was not sooner, but their arguments are different. Because time begins with the beginning of created universe, there was no time before universe was created, and hence, there is no 'place' for the sooner. God's existence with and without universe is atemporally eternal. For this kind of eternality there are no valid temporal determinations like 'sooner', 'later' or 'in that time'. In this paper we will try to present both of this kind of argumentation.