Saint Augustine (354-430)

Against Faustus

Translated by Richard Stothert

Book XXII

Chapter 10

So, when darkness was over the deep, He who was light said, “Let there be light.” From what light this light came is clear; for the words are, “God said.” What light is that which was made, is not so clear. For there has been a friendly discussion among students of the sacred Scriptures, whether God then made the light in the minds of the angels, or, in other words, these rational spirits themselves, or some material light which exists in the higher regions of the universe beyond our ken. For on the fourth day He made the visible luminaries of heaven. And it is also a question whether these bodies were made at the same time as their light, or were somehow kindled from the light made already. But whoever reads the sacred writings in the pious spirit which is required to understand them, must be convinced that whatever the light was which was made when, at the time that darkness was over the deep, God said, “Let there be light,” it was created light, and the creating Light was the maker of it.

Book XXII Chapter 9

Book XXII Chapter 11