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Writings In Connection With The Manichaean Controversy

Writings In Connection With The Manichaean Controversy

By St. Augustine

Title Page
Editor's Preface
Preface.
writings in connection with the Manichæan controversy
Introductory Essay on the Manichæan Heresy,
Chapter I. --Literature.
Chapter II. --Philosophical Basis, and Antecedents of Manichæism.
Chapter III. --The Manichæan System.
Chapter IV. --Relation of Manichæism to Zoroastrianism.
Chapter V. --The Relation of Manichæism to the Old Babylonian Religion as Seen in Mandæism and Sabeanism.
Chapter VI. -- The Relation of Manichæism to Buddhism.
Chapter VII. --The Relation of Manichæism to Judaism.
Chapter VIII. --The Relation of Manichæism to Christianity.
Chapter IX. --Augustin and the Manichæans.
Chapter X. --Outline of Manichæan History.
Preface to the Anti-Manichæan Writings.
St. AUGUSTIN: on the morals of the catholic church.
Of the Morals of the Catholic Church.
Chapter 1. --How the Pretensions of the Manichæans are to Be Refuted. Two Manichæan Falsehoods.
Chapter 2. --He Begins with Arguments, in Compliance with the Mistaken Method of the Manichæans.
Chapter 3. --Happiness is in the Enjoyment of Man's Chief Good. Two Conditions of the Chief Good: 1st, Nothing is Better Than It; 2d, It Cannot Be Lost Against the Will.
Chapter 4. --Man--What?
Chapter 5. --Man's Chief Good is Not the Chief Good of the Body Only, But the Chief Good of the Soul.
Chapter 6. --Virtue Gives Perfection to the Soul; The Soul Obtains Virtue by Following God; Following God is the Happy Life.
Chapter 7. --The Knowledge of God to Be Obtained from the Scripture. The Plan and Principal Mysteries of the Divine Scheme of Redemption.
Chapter 8. --God is the Chief Good, Whom We are to Seek After with Supreme Affection.
Chapter 9. --Harmony of the Old and New Testament on the Precepts of Charity.
Chapter 10. --What the Church Teaches About God. The Two Gods of the Manichæans.
Chapter 11. --God is the One Object of Love; Therefore He is Man's Chief Good. Nothing is Better Than God. God Cannot Be Lost Against Our Will.
Chapter 12. --We are United to God by Love, in Subjection to Him.
Chapter 13. --We are Joined Inseparably to God by Christ and His Spirit.
Chapter 14. --We Cleave to the Trinity, Our Chief Good, by Love.
Chapter 15. --The Christian Definition of the Four Virtues.
Chapter 16. --Harmony of the Old and New Testaments.
Chapter 17. --Appeal to the Manichæans, Calling on Them to Repent.
Chapter 18. --Only in the Catholic Church is Perfect Truth Established on the Harmony of Both Testaments.
Chapter 19. --Description of the Duties of Temperance, According to the Sacred Scriptures.
Chapter 20. --We are Required to Despise All Sensible Things, and to Love God Alone.
Chapter 21. --Popular Renown and Inquisitiveness are Condemned in the Sacred Scriptures.
Chapter 22. --Fortitude Comes from the Love of God.
Chapter 23. --Scripture Precepts and Examples of Fortitude.
Chapter 24. --Of Justice and Prudence.
Chapter 25. --Four Moral Duties Regarding the Love of God, of Which Love the Reward is Eternal Life and the Knowledge of the Truth.
Chapter 26. --Love of Ourselves and of Our Neighbor.
Chapter 27. --On Doing Good to the Body of Our Neighbor.
Chapter 28. --On Doing Good to the Soul of Our Neighbor. Two Parts of Discipline, Restraint and Instruction. Through Good Conduct We Arrive at the Knowledge of the Truth.
Chapter 29. --Of the Authority of the Scriptures.
Chapter 30. --The Church Apostrophised as Teacher of All Wisdom. Doctrine of the Catholic Church.
Chapter 31. --The Life of the Anachoretes and Coenobites Set Against the Continence of the Manichæans.
Chapter 32. --Praise of the Clergy.
Chapter 33. --Another Kind of Men Living Together in Cities. Fasts of Three Days.
Chapter 34. --The Church is Not to Be Blamed for the Conduct of Bad Christians, Worshippers of Tombs and Pictures.
Chapter 35. --Marriage and Property Allowed to the Baptized by the Apostles.
St. AUGUSTIN: on the morals of the manichæans.
On the Morals of the Manichæans.
Chapter 1. --The Supreme Good is that Which is Possessed of Supreme Existence.
Chapter 2. --What Evil is. That Evil is that Which is Against Nature. In Allowing This, the Manichæans Refute Themselves.
Chapter 3. --If Evil is Defined as that Which is Hurtful, This Implies Another Refutation of the Manichæans.
Chapter 4. --The Difference Between What is Good in Itself and What is Good by Participation.
Chapter 5. --If Evil is Defined to Be Corruption, This Completely Refutes the Manichæan Heresy.
Chapter 6. --What Corruption Affects and What It is.
Chapter 7. --The Goodness of God Prevents Corruption from Bringing Anything to Non-Existence. The Difference Between Creating and Forming.
Chapter 8. --Evil is Not a Substance, But a Disagreement Hostile to Substance.
Chapter 9. --The Manichæan Fictions About Things Good and Evil are Not Consistent with Themselves.
Chapter 10. --Three Moral Symbols Devised by the Manichæans for No Good.
Chapter 11. --The Value of the Symbol of the Mouth Among the Manichæans, Who are Found Guilty of Blaspheming God.
Chapter 12. --Manichæan Subterfuge.
Chapter 13. --Actions to Be Judged of from Their Motive, Not from Externals. Manichæan Abstinence to Be Tried by This Principle.
Chapter 14. --Three Good Reasons for Abstaining from Certain Kinds of Food.
Chapter 15. --Why the Manichæans Prohibit the Use of Flesh.
Chapter 16. --Disclosure of the Monstrous Tenets of the Manichæans.
Chapter 17. --Description of the Symbol of the Hands Among the Manichæans.
Chapter 18. --Of the Symbol of the Breast, and of the Shameful Mysteries of the Manichæans.
Chapter 19. --Crimes of the Manichæans.
Chapter 20. --Disgraceful Conduct Discovered at Rome.
St. AUGUSTIN: on two souls, against the manichæans.
Concerning Two Souls, Against the Manichæans.
Chapter 1. --By What Course of Reasoning the Error of the Manichæans Concerning Two Souls, One of Which is Not from God, is Refuted. Every Soul, Inasmuch as It is a Certain Life, Can Have Its Existence Only from God the Source of Life.
Chapter 2. --If the Light that is Perceived by Sense Has God for Its Author, as the Manichæans Acknowledge, Much More The Soul Which is Perceived by Intellect Alone.
Chapter 3. --How It is Proved that Every Body Also is from God. That the Soul Which is Called Evil by the Manichæans is Better Than Light.
Chapter 4. --Even the Soul of a Fly is More Excellent Than the Light.
Chapter 5. --How Vicious Souls, However Worthy of Condemnation They May Be, Excel the Light Which is Praiseworthy in Its Kind.
Chapter 6. --Whether Even Vices Themselves as Objects of Intellectual Apprehension are to Be Preferred to Light as an Object of Sense Perception, and are to Be Attributed to God as Their Author.
Chapter 7. --How Evil Men are of God, and Not of God.
Chapter 8. --The Manichæans Inquire Whence is Evil and by This Question Think They Have Triumphed. Let Them First Know, Which is Most Easy to Do, that Nothing Can Live Without God. Consummate Evil Cannot Be Known Except by the Knowledge of Consummat
Chapter 9. --Augustin Deceived by Familiarity with the Manichæans, and by the Succession of Victories Over Ignorant Christians Reported by Them. The Manichæans are Likewise Easily Refuted from the Knowledge of Sin and the Will.
Chapter 10. --Sin is Only from the Will. His Own Life and Will Best Known to Each Individual. What Will is.
Chapter 11. --What Sin is.
Chapter 12. --From the Definitions Given of Sin and Will, He Overthrows the Entire Heresy of the Manichæans. Likewise from the Just Condemnation of Evil Souls It Follows that They are Evil Not by Nature But by Will.
Chapter 13. --From Deliberation on the Evil and on the Good Part It Results that Two Classes of Souls are Not to Be Held to.
Chapter 14. --Again It is Shown from the Utility of Repenting that Souls are Not by Nature Evil. So Sure a Demonstration is Not Contradicted Except from the Habit of Erring.
Chapter 15. --He Prays for His Friends Whom He Has Had as Associates in Error.
St. AUGUSTIN: acts or disputation against fortunatus the manichæan.
Acts or Disputation Against Fortunatus, the Manichæan.
Disputation of the Second Day.
St. AUGUSTIN: against the epistle of manichæus, called fundamental.
Against the Epistle of Manichæus Called Fundamental.
Chapter 1. --To Heal Heretics is Better Than to Destroy Them.
Chapter 2. --Why the Manichæans Should Be More Gently Dealt with.
Chapter 3. --Augustin Once a Manichæan.
Chapter 4. --Proofs of the Catholic Faith.
Chapter 5. --Against the Title of the Epistle of Manichæus.
Chapter 6. --Why Manichæus Called Himself an Apostle of Christ.
Chapter 7. --In What Sense the Followers of Manichæus Believe Him to Be the Holy Spirit.
Chapter 8. --The Festival of the Birth-Day of Manichæus.
Chapter 9. --When the Holy Spirit Was Sent.
Chapter 10. --The Holy Spirit Twice Given.
Chapter 11. --Manichæus Promises Truth, But Does Not Make Good His Word.
Chapter 12. --The Wild Fancies of Manichæus. The Battle Before the Constitution of the World.
Chapter 13. --Two Opposite Substances. The Kingdom of Light. Manichæus Teaches Uncertainties Instead of Certainties.
Chapter 14. --Manichæus Promises the Knowledge of Undoubted Things, and Then Demands Faith in Doubtful Things.
Chapter 15. --The Doctrine of Manichæus Not Only Uncertain, But False. His Absurd Fancy of a Land and Race of Darkness Bordering on the Holy Region and the Substance of God.
Chapter 16. --The Soul, Though Mutable, Has No Material Form. It is All Present in Every Part of the Body.
Chapter 17. --The Memory Contains the Ideas of Places of the Greatest Size.
Chapter 18. --The Understanding Judges of the Truth of Things, and of Its Own Action.
Chapter 19. --If the Mind Has No Material Extension, Much Less Has God.
Chapter 20. --Refutation of the Absurd Idea of Two Territories.
Chapter 21. --This Region of Light Must Be Material If It is Joined to the Region of Darkness. The Shape of the Region of Darkness Joined to the Region of Light.
Chapter 22. --The Form of the Region of Light the Worse of the Two.
Chapter 23. --The Anthropomorphites Not So Bad as the Manichæans.
Chapter 24. --Of the Number of Natures in the Manichæan Fiction.
Chapter 25. --Omnipotence Creates Good Things Differing in Degree. In Every Description Whatsoever of the Junction of the Two Regions There is Either Impropriety or Absurdity.
Chapter 26. --The Manichæans are Reduced to the Choice of a Tortuous, or Curved, or Straight Line of Junction. The Third Kind of Line Would Give Symmetry and Beauty Suitable to Both Regions.
Chapter 27. --The Beauty of the Straight Line Might Be Taken from the Region of Darkness Without Taking Anything from Its Substance. So Evil Neither Takes from Nor Adds to the Substance of the Soul.
Chapter 28. --Manichæus Places Five Natures in the Region of Darkness.
Chapter 29. --The Refutation of This Absurdity.
Chapter 30. --The Number of Good Things in Those Natures Which Manichæus Places in the Region of Darkness.
Chapter 31. --The Same Subject Continued.
Chapter 32. --Manichæus Got the Arrangement of His Fanciful Notions from Visible Objects.
Chapter 33. --Every Nature, as Nature, is Good.
Chapter 34. --Nature Cannot Be Without Some Good. The Manichæans Dwell Upon the Evils.
Chapter 35. --Evil Alone is Corruption. Corruption is Not Nature, But Contrary to Nature. Corruption Implies Previous Good.
Chapter 36. --The Source of Evil or of Corruption of Good.
Chapter 37. --God Alone Perfectly Good.
Chapter 38. --Nature Made by God; Corruption Comes from Nothing.
Chapter 39. --In What Sense Evils are from God.
Chapter 40. --Corruption Tends to Non-Existence.
Chapter 41. --Corruption is by God's Permission, and Comes from Us.
Chapter 42. --Exhortation to the Chief Good.
Chapter 43. --Conclusion.
St. AUGUSTIN:
Reply to Faustus the Manichæan.
Who Faustus was. Faustus's object in writing the polemical treatise that forms the basis of Augustin's reply. Augustin's remarks thereon.
Faustus claims to believe the Gospel, yet refuses to accept the genealogical tables on various grounds which Augustin seeks to set aside.
Faustus objects to the incarnation of God on the ground that the evangelists are at variance with each other, and that incarnation is unsuitable to deity. Augustin attempts to remove the critical and theological difficulties.
Faustus's reasons for rejecting the Old Testament, and Augustin's animadversions thereon.
Faustus claims that the Manichæans and not the Catholics are consistent believers in the Gospel, and seeks to establish this claim by comparing Manichæan and Catholic obedience to the precepts of the Gospel. Augustin exposes the hypocrisy of t
Faustus avows his disbelief in the Old Testament and his disregard of its precepts, and accuses Catholics of inconsistency in neglecting its ordinances, while claiming to accept it as authoritative. Augustin explains the Catholic view of the relation of t
The genealogical question is again taken up and argued on both sides.
Faustus maintains that to hold to the Old Testament after the giving of the New is putting new cloth on an old garment. Augustin further explains the relation of the Old Testament to the New, and reproaches the Manichæans with carnality.
Faustus argues that if the apostles born under the old covenant could lawfully depart from it, much more can he having been born a Gentile. Augustin explains the relation of Jews and Gentiles alike to the Gospel.
Faustus insists that the Old Testament promises are radically different from those of the New. Augustin admits a difference, but maintains that the moral precepts are the same in both.
Faustus quotes passages to show that the Apostle Paul abandoned belief in the incarnation, to which he earlier held. Augustin shows that the apostle was consistent with himself in the utterances quoted.
Faustus denies that the prophets predicted Christ. Augustin proves such prediction from the New Testament, and expounds at length the principal types of Christ in the Old Testament.
Faustus asserts that even if the Old Testament could be shown to contain predictions, it would be of interest only to the Jews, pagan literature subserving the same purpose for Gentiles. Augustin shows the value of prophesy for Gentiles and Jews alike.
Faustus abhors Moses for the awful curse he has pronounced upon Christ. Augustin expounds the Christian doctrine of the suffering Saviour by comparing Old and New Testament passages.
Faustus rejects the Old Testament because it leaves no room for Christ. Christ the one Bridegroom suffices for His Bride the Church. Augustin answers as well as he can, and reproves the Manichæans with presumption in claiming to be the Bride of Chri
Faustus willing to believe not only that the Jewish but that all Gentile prophets wrote of Christ, if it should be proved; but he would none the less insist upon rejecting their superstitions. Augustin maintains that all Moses wrote is of Christ, and that
Faustus rejects Christ's declaration that He came not to destroy the law and the prophets but to fulfill them
The relation of Christ to prophecy, continued.
Faustus is willing to admit that Christ may have said that He came not to destroy the law and the prophets, but to fulfill them; but if He did, it was to pacify the Jews and in a modified sense. Augustin replies, and still further elaborates the Catholic
Faustus repels the charge of sun-worship
Faustus denies that Manichæans believe in two gods. Hyle no god. Augustin discusses at large the doctrine of God and Hyle, and fixes the charge of dualism upon the Manichæans.
Faustus states his objections to the morality of the law and the prophets, and Augustin seeks by the application of the type and the allegory to explain away the moral difficulties of the Old Testament.
Faustus recurs to the genealogical difficulty and insists that even according to Matthew Jesus was not Son of God until His baptism. Augustin sets forth the Catholic view of the relation of the divine and the human in the person of Christ.
Faustus explains the Manichæan denial that man was made by God as applying to the fleshly man not to the spiritual. Augustin elucidates the Apostle Paul's contrasts between flesh and spirit so as to exclude the Manichæan view.
Faustus seeks to bring into ridicule the orthodox claim to believe in the infinity of God by caricaturing the anthropomorphic representations of the Old Testament. Augustin expresses his despair of being able to induce the Manichæans to adopt right
Faustus insists that Jesus might have died though not born, by the exercise of divine power, yet he rejects birth and death alike. Augustin maintains that there are some things that even God cannot do, one of which is to die. He refutes the docetism of th
Faustus warns against pressing too far the argument, that if Jesus was not born He cannot have suffered. Augustin accepts the birth and death alike on the testimony of the Gospel narrative, which is higher authority than the falsehood of Manichæus.
Faustus recurs to the genealogy and insists upon examining it as regards its consistency with itself. Augustin takes his stand on Scripture authority and maintains that Matthew's statements as to the birth of Christ must be accepted as final.
Faustus seeks to justify the docetism of the Manichæans. Augustin insists that there is nothing disgraceful in being born.
Faustus repels the insinuation that the prophecy of Paul with reference to those that should forbid to marry
The scripture passage: |To the pure all things are pure, but to the impure and defiled is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled,| is discussed from both the Manichæan and the Catholic points of view, Faustus objecting to its a
Faustus fails to understand why he should be required either to accept or reject the New Testament as a whole, while the Catholics accept or reject the various parts of the Old Testament at pleasure. Augustin denies that the Catholics treat the Old Testam
Faustus does not think it would be a great honor to sit down with Abraham
St. AUGUSTIN: concerning the nature of good, against the manichæans.
Concerning the Nature of Good, Against the Manichæans.
Chapter 1. --God the Highest and Unchangeable Good, from Whom are All Other Good Things, Spiritual and Corporeal.
Chapter 2. --How This May Suffice for Correcting the Manichæans.
Chapter 3. --Measure, Form, and Order, Generic Goods in Things Made by God.
Chapter 4. --Evil is Corruption of Measure, Form, or Order.
Chapter 5. --The Corrupted Nature of a More Excellent Order Sometimes Better Than an Inferior Nature Even Uncorrupted.
Chapter 6. --Nature Which Cannot Be Corrupted is the Highest Good; That Which Can, is Some Good.
Chapter 7. --The Corruption of Rational Spirits is on the One Hand Voluntary, on the Other Penal.
Chapter 8. --From the Corruption and Destruction of Inferior Things is the Beauty of the Universe.
Chapter 9. --Punishment is Constituted for the Sinning Nature that It May Be Rightly Ordered.
Chapter 10. --Natures Corruptible, Because Made of Nothing.
Chapter 11. --God Cannot Suffer Harm, Nor Can Any Other Nature Except by His Permission.
Chapter 12. --All Good Things are from God Alone.
Chapter 13. --Individual Good Things, Whether Small or Great, are from God.
Chapter 14. --Small Good Things in Comparison with Greater are Called by Contrary Names.
Chapter 15. --In the Body of the Ape the Good of Beauty is Present, Though in a Less Degree.
Chapter 16. --Privations in Things are Fittingly Ordered by God.
Chapter 17. --Nature, in as Far as It is Nature, No Evil.
Chapter 18. --Hyle, Which Was Called by the Ancients the Formless Material of Things, is Not an Evil.
Chapter 19. --To Have True Existence is an Exclusive Prerogative of God.
Chapter 20. --Pain Only in Good Natures.
Chapter 21. --From Measure Things are Said to Be Moderate-Sized.
Chapter 22. --Measure in Some Sense is Suitable to God Himself.
Chapter 23. --Whence a Bad Measure, a Bad Form, a Bad Order May Sometimes Be Spoken of.
Chapter 24. --It is Proved by the Testimonies of Scripture that God is Unchangeable. The Son of God Begotten, Not Made.
Chapter 25. --This Last Expression Misunderstood by Some.
Chapter 26. --That Creatures are Made of Nothing.
Chapter 27. --|From Him| And |Of Him| Do Not Mean The Same Thing.
Chapter 28. --Sin Not From God, But From The Will of Those Sinning.
Chapter 29. --That God is Not Defiled by Our Sins.
Chapter 30. --That Good Things, Even the Least, and Those that are Earthly, are by God.
Chapter 31. --To Punish and to Forgive Sins Belong Equally to God.
Chapter 32. --From God Also is the Very Power to Be Hurtful.
Chapter 33. --That Evil Angels Have Been Made Evil, Not by God, But by Sinning.
Chapter 34. --That Sin is Not the Striving for an Evil Nature, But the Desertion of a Better.
Chapter 35. --The Tree Was Forbidden to Adam Not Because It Was Evil, But Because It Was Good for Man to Be Subject to God.
Chapter 36. --No Creature of God is Evil, But to Abuse a Creature of God is Evil.
Chapter 37. --God Makes Good Use of the Evil Deeds of Sinners.
Chapter 38. --Eternal Fire Torturing the Wicked, Not Evil.
Chapter 39. --Fire is Called Eternal, Not as God Is, But Because Without End.
Chapter 40. --Neither Can God Suffer Hurt, Nor Any Other, Save by the Just Ordination of God.
Chapter 41. --How Great Good Things the Manichæans Put in the Nature of Evil, and How Great Evil Things in the Nature of Good.
Chapter 42. --Manichæan Blasphemies Concerning the Nature of God.
Chapter 43. --Many Evils Before His Commingling with Evil are Attributed to the Nature of God by the Manichæans.
Chapter 44. --Incredible Turpitudes in God Imagined by Manichæus.
Chapter 45. --Certain Unspeakable Turpitudes Believed, Not Without Reason, Concerning the Manichæans Themselves.
Chapter 46. --The Unspeakable Doctrine of the Fundamental Epistle.
Chapter 47. --He Compels to the Perpetration of Horrible Turpitudes.
Chapter 48. --Augustin Prays that the Manichæans May Be Restored to Their Senses.

Writings In Connection With The Manichaean Controversy

By St. Augustine

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