Key Arguments

• He distinguishes several kinds of priority using the analogy of sound and song: the sound that underlies singing is not temporally or preferentially prior, but prior only as that which receives form: "The priority does not consist in the potentiality to make song. The sound is not the maker causing the singing, but is provided by the body for the singer’s soul to turn into song. It is not prior in time. It is emitted at the same time as the song. It is not prior in preference, for sound is not something preferred to song, seeing that song is not merely sound but also beautiful sound. But there is priority in origin; for a song is not endowed with form to become sound, but sound receives form to become song."
• He applies this analogy directly to creation, claiming that matter is called ‘heaven and earth’ because it is the origin from which formed heaven and earth come, without any temporal ‘before’: "This illustration may help any who can understand that the matter of things was made first and called ‘heaven and earth’ because heaven and earth were made out of this. But the matter was not made first in a temporal sense, because the forms of things provide the originating cause of the time process."
• He insists that in our current experience matter and form always appear together, which makes strictly temporal language about formless matter inevitably misleading: "This matter was formless, but now in time matter and form are perceived simultaneously. Nevertheless it is impossible to put into words any statement about formless matter without speaking as if it were prior in time."
• He ranks formless matter as lowest in value, on the explicit principle that formed things are better than formless ones: "In value it is on the lowest level, since obviously things with form are better than formless things."
• He grounds the ontological priority of God over matter by stressing that even this primal material is itself created from nothing and preceded by God’s eternity: "It is preceded by the Creator’s eternity, so that the material out of which anything is made is itself out of nothing."

Source Quotes

The priority does not consist in the potentiality to make song. The sound is not the maker causing the singing, but is provided by the body for the singer’s soul to turn into song. It is not prior in time.

The sound is not the maker causing the singing, but is provided by the body for the singer’s soul to turn into song. It is not prior in time. It is emitted at the same time as the song. It is not prior in preference, for sound is not something preferred to song, seeing that song is not merely sound but also beautiful sound.

It is emitted at the same time as the song. It is not prior in preference, for sound is not something preferred to song, seeing that song is not merely sound but also beautiful sound. But there is priority in origin; for a song is not endowed with form to become sound, but sound receives form to become song.

But there is priority in origin; for a song is not endowed with form to become sound, but sound receives form to become song. This illustration may help any who can understand that the matter of things was made first and called ‘heaven and earth’ because heaven and earth were made out of this. But the matter was not made first in a temporal sense, because the forms of things provide the originating cause of the time process.

This illustration may help any who can understand that the matter of things was made first and called ‘heaven and earth’ because heaven and earth were made out of this. But the matter was not made first in a temporal sense, because the forms of things provide the originating cause of the time process. This matter was formless, but now in time matter and form are perceived simultaneously.

But the matter was not made first in a temporal sense, because the forms of things provide the originating cause of the time process. This matter was formless, but now in time matter and form are perceived simultaneously. Nevertheless it is impossible to put into words any statement about formless matter without speaking as if it were prior in time.28 In value it is on the lowest level, since obviously things with form are better than formless things.

This matter was formless, but now in time matter and form are perceived simultaneously. Nevertheless it is impossible to put into words any statement about formless matter without speaking as if it were prior in time.28 In value it is on the lowest level, since obviously things with form are better than formless things. It is preceded by the Creator’s eternity, so that the material out of which anything is made is itself out of nothing. xxx (41) In this diversity of true views, may truth itself engender concord, and may our God have mercy upon us that we may ‘use the law lawfully’, for the ‘end of the precept, pure love’ (1 Tim.

Nevertheless it is impossible to put into words any statement about formless matter without speaking as if it were prior in time.28 In value it is on the lowest level, since obviously things with form are better than formless things. It is preceded by the Creator’s eternity, so that the material out of which anything is made is itself out of nothing. xxx (41) In this diversity of true views, may truth itself engender concord, and may our God have mercy upon us that we may ‘use the law lawfully’, for the ‘end of the precept, pure love’ (1 Tim. 1: 8, 5).

Key Concepts

• The sound is not the maker causing the singing, but is provided by the body for the singer’s soul to turn into song.
• It is not prior in time. It is emitted at the same time as the song.
• It is not prior in preference, for sound is not something preferred to song, seeing that song is not merely sound but also beautiful sound.
• This illustration may help any who can understand that the matter of things was made first and called ‘heaven and earth’ because heaven and earth were made out of this.
• But the matter was not made first in a temporal sense, because the forms of things provide the originating cause of the time process.
• This matter was formless, but now in time matter and form are perceived simultaneously.
• Nevertheless it is impossible to put into words any statement about formless matter without speaking as if it were prior in time.
• In value it is on the lowest level, since obviously things with form are better than formless things.
• It is preceded by the Creator’s eternity, so that the material out of which anything is made is itself out of nothing.

Context

Book XII, xxix–xxx (41): Augustine closes his technical discussion of different kinds of priority by using the sound/song analogy to clarify how formless matter can be ontologically prior to formed creation without temporal precedence, while also asserting its derivative, lowest status and creation ex nihilo.