Behold, i answer to him who asks, what was god doing before he made heaven and earth? i answer not, as a certain person is reported to have done facetiously (avoiding the pressure of the question), he was preparing hell, says he, for those who pry into mysteries. (confessions, book xi, chapter 12) what is st. augustine’s point in the above excerpt? he mocks scholars who are guilty of laziness. he demonstrates the dangers of intellectual pride. he encourages readers to use their reason to explore mysteries. he reconciles aristotle’s theory of time with medieval science.

He demonstrates the dangers of intellectual pride.

Explanation:

Saint Augustine of Hippo was an early Christian theologian (died in 430 AD) who went through a picturesque and tumultuous life that he elaborates upon in his Confessions. From being a somewhat dissolute youth, he would eventually find the path of the Christian god and, from a Neoplatonist platform, he would elaborate his theological system. Notwithstanding the depth of his philosophical and theological argumentation, Saint Augustine, having left behind the pride that characterized his youthful years as a Manichean, recommended a solid degree of humility when dealing with certain mysteries of the Christian faith, one of them being, naturally, the nature of God in the context of any philosophical argumentation into his origins or foundations.