Augustine of Hippo's Philosophy of Time Meets General Relativity

This paper proposes a cosmological model that uses a causality argument to solve the homogeneity and entropy problems of cosmology. In this model, a chronology violating region of spacetime causally precedes the remainder of the Universe, and a theorem establishes the existence of time functions precisely outside the chronology violating region. This model is shown to nicely reproduce Augustine of Hippo’s thought on time and the beginning of the Universe. In the model, the spacelike boundary representing the Big Bang is replaced by a null hypersurface at which the gravitational degrees of freedom are almost frozen while the matter and radiation content is highly homogeneous and thermalized.