Augustine’s Moulding of the Manichaean Idea of God in the Confessions

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" Augustine’s Moulding of the Manichaean Idea of God in the Confessions "
Therese Fuhrer

Document Type	:	AL
Record Number	:	1085348
Doc. No	:	LA128977
Call No	:	‭10.1163/15700720-12341155‬
Language of Document	:	English
Main Entry	:	Therese Fuhrer
Title & Author	:	Augustine’s Moulding of the Manichaean Idea of God in the Confessions [Article]\ Therese Fuhrer
Publication Statement	:	Leiden: Brill
Title of Periodical	:	Vigiliae Christianae
Date	:	2013
Volume/ Issue Number	:	67/5
Page No	:	531–547
Abstract	:	The present study aims to ask whether Augustine utilised elements of Manichaean theology to give an account of and profile to the Nicene Christian doctrinal system. In the Confessions Augustine links his narrative of the encounter with the Manichaeans, right from the start, to an epistemologically grounded critique of their idea of God (conf. 3.10f.). Whereas the pagan myths can be assigned the function of referring to non-fictional and thus ‘true’ spheres of meaning, the motifs of Manichaean myth are empty forms (phantasmata) without any reference to reality, which they are supposed to explain. The paper argues that this anti-Manichaean critique of myth is the starting-point for a theory of knowledge of God which opposes the biblical imago dei to the Manichaean phantasmata and can thus be understood as having been conceptualised in opposition to Mani’s doctrine of God. The present study aims to ask whether Augustine utilised elements of Manichaean theology to give an account of and profile to the Nicene Christian doctrinal system. In the Confessions Augustine links his narrative of the encounter with the Manichaeans, right from the start, to an epistemologically grounded critique of their idea of God (conf. 3.10f.). Whereas the pagan myths can be assigned the function of referring to non-fictional and thus ‘true’ spheres of meaning, the motifs of Manichaean myth are empty forms (phantasmata) without any reference to reality, which they are supposed to explain. The paper argues that this anti-Manichaean critique of myth is the starting-point for a theory of knowledge of God which opposes the biblical imago dei to the Manichaean phantasmata and can thus be understood as having been conceptualised in opposition to Mani’s doctrine of God.
Descriptor	:	Augustine
Descriptor	:	Confessions
Descriptor	:	critique of myth
Descriptor	:	Manichaean theology
Location & Call number	:	‭10.1163/15700720-12341155‬