Enough, probably, has been done in our other books in the way of answering the ignorant and profane attacks which the Manichaeans make on the law, which is called the Old Testament, in a spirit of vainglorious boasting, and with the approval of the uninstructed. Here, too, I may shortly touch upon the subject. For every one with average intelligence can easily see that the explanation of the Scriptures should be sought for from those who are the professed teachers of the Scriptures; and that it may happen, and indeed always happens, that many things seem absurd to the ignorant, which, when they are explained by the learned, appear all the more excellent, and are received in the explanation with the greater pleasure on account of the obstructions which made it difficult to reach the meaning.

This collection of the Anti-Manichaean Writings of Saint Augustine has all of the following works: On the Morals of the Catholic Church On the morals of the Manichaeans On Two Souls: Against the Manichaeans Acts or Disputation against Fortunatus the Manichean Against the Epistle of Manichaeus Called Fundamental Reply to Faustus the Manichean Concerning the Nature of Good, Against the Manicheans

This volume gives a fair sample of Augustin’s controversial powers. His nine years’ personal experience of the vanity of Manichæism made him thoroughly earnest and sympathetic in his efforts to disentangle other men from its snares, and also equipped him with the knowledge requisite for this task. No doubt the Pelagian controversy was more congenial to his mind. His logical acuteness and knowledge of Scripture availed him more in combating men who fought with the same weapons, than in dealing with a system which threw around its positions the mist of Gnostic speculation, or veiled its doctrine under a grotesque mythology, or based itself on a cosmogony too fantastic for a Western mind to tolerate.[25] But however Augustin may have misconceived the strange forms in which this system was presented, there is no doubt that he comprehended and demolished its fundamental principles;[26] that he did so as a necessary part of his own personal search for the truth; and that in doing so he gained possession, vitally and permanently of ideas and principles which subsequently entered into all he thought and wrote. In finding his way through the mazes of the obscure region into which Mani had led him, he once for all ascertained the true relation subsisting between God and His creatures, formed his opinion regarding the respective provinces of reason and faith, and the connection of the Old and New Testaments, and found the root of all evil in the created will.

The subject of this publication is the treatise Aduersus Manichaeos, attributed to Evodius of Uzalis. Evodius was a friend and contemporary of Augustine of Hippo. The treatise Aduersus Manichaeos is an important source on the North African Catholic church and its polemics against the Manichaeans. Although the treatise is strongly influenced by the anti-Manichaean writings of Augustine of Hippo, it also offers much original and likely authentic information on the Manichaean movement. Thus far, however, no systematic study had been conducted on this anti-Manichaean treatise attributed to Evodius. As a result, some of its historical circumstances have been shrouded in mystery.

Before converting to Christianity, Augustine was at one time a member of a group called the Manichaeans and this collection of works are his attempt to combat the growing threat that this religion caused to the rise and growth of the Christian church. The Manichaeans were a dualistic society that focused on the goodness of the spirit and the evil of the material. While basing their belief structure of Mesopotamian Gnosticism it is hard to say for certain that they were Gnostic themselves. Augustine shows sound arguments to counter the beliefs he reveals in this collection of writings even going so far as to have a verbal parley back and forth with a leading member of the religious movement Fortunatus. Now in larger print!

This volume reproduces nineteen chapters and articles published between 1991 through 2008, on Manichaeism, and its contacts with Augustine of Hippo, its most famous convert and also best-known adversary. The contents are divided into four parts: perceptions of Mani within the Roman Empire, select aspects of Manichaean thought, women in Manichaeism, and Manichaeism and Augustine. Though these chapters and articles reproduce their originals, adjustments have been made to include cross-referencing, newer editions, and the like, all with the aim of rendering them more accessible to a new readership among those who follow the fortunes of Mani’s religion in the Roman Empire and/or the “Manichaean” aspects of Augustine of Hippo.

Taking as their common subject the key early Christian anti-Manichaean work, the Acts of Archelaus (Acta Archelai), the contributors to this volume offer a systematic exploration of what the text has to tell us about inter-religious contact, conflict, and comprehension at a crucial moment in religious history: the encounter between Christianity and Manichaeism along the political and cultural frontier zone of West Asia in the early fourth century CE. The contributions examine the text's structure, apologetic and polemical strategies, and possible sources, and through these analyses challenge received notions of ‘orthodoxy’ and ‘heresy’ in the mutual construction of identity that took place between these two claimants to the Christian heritage.

This is the first general comprehensive introduction to Manichaeism aimed at a non-specialist and undergraduate readership. This study will be a historical and theological introduction to Manichaeism. It will comprise a biographical treatment of the founder Mani, situating his personality, his writings and his ideas within the Aramaic Christian tradition of third century (CE) Mesopotamia. It will provide a historical treatment of the Manichaean church in late antiquity (250-700 CE), detailing the emergence of Manichaeism in the late Roman and Byzantine empires, in addition to examining the continuation of Manichaean traditions in the eastern world (China) up to the thirteenth century and beyond. The book will consider the theology of Mani's system, with the aim of providing a clear-eyed treatment of the cosmogonic, scriptural and ecclesiological ideas forming its foundations. The study will base its analysis on original Manichaean literary sources, together with rehabilitating the representation of Manichaeism in those writings that polemicised against the religion. The study will aim to demonstrate the highly syncretic nature of Manichaeism, and will look to move forward 'traditional' perceptions of the religion as being simply a form of Christian Gnostic Dualism.