The Almost Modern Augustine

I realized this morning that Augustine is almost, in at least one way, a modern thinker. Here's how.

For Augustine, language is not before thought. Language is always a symbol of a thought, the thought always preceding language. Of course, this can sound very modern to some Postmodernists, like Lyotard, who believe that the belief in a legitimization of a grand-narrative outside language, perhaps in "reason," is the mark of modernity. Lyotard believes that all knowledge is linguistically based and so language comes before thought. It can appear that Augustine has put language before though, which could point to a universalistic reason which could ground a metanarrative. However, for Augustine it is not reason which grounds language, but rather God who grounds language. Just as the word, when used properly, accurately captures the thought, so does the Word accurately capture the Father. The relationship between language and thought is a pointer, inadequate most assuredly, but a pointer nonetheless to God.