Original Research - Special Collection: UP Faculty of Theology Centenary Volume One
Reminiscenses of Manichaeism in Augustine’s City of God
HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies | Vol 72, No 4 | a3277 |
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v72i4.3277
| © 2016 Johannes van Oort
| This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 02 December 2015 | Published: 21 November 2016
Submitted: 02 December 2015 | Published: 21 November 2016
About the author(s)
Johannes van Oort, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands; Department Church History and Church Polity, Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria, South Africa, South AfricaAbstract
This article aims to analyse all the passages in Augustine’s City of God in which he either explicitly or implicitly makes mention of Manichaeism and its doctrines. It turns out that, even in his later years, Manichaean doctrines were at the forefront of Augustine’s mind, although essential elements of his own doctrines (for instance, evil being the privation of good) have a clearly anti-Manichaean background. A close reading of all those anti-Manichaean passages further discloses some fairly unique particulars, such as, for example, the Manichaeans’ use and interpretation of John 8:44 and 1 John 3:8.
Keywords
Augustine; Manichaeism; City of God; Early Church; Patristics
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