INFLUENCES OF MANICHAEAN DOCTRINE ON AUGUSTINE

It is an established fact that Augustine, from his nineteenth to his twenty-eighth years (373 to 382), stayed among the Manichaeans for about a decade and, already as their auditor, became familiar with their books and teachings. Initially, he became deeply affected by a highly spiritual proclaimed by Manichaean missionaries. In this new form of belief, the Old Testament was put aside for its non-spiritual and loathsome character, while Christ was honoured as the Teacher of Wisdom, the Enlightener guiding the believer to true knowledge. The Manichaeans also claimed to offer a rational religion, without annoyances to the intellect. In Manichaeism truth and knowledge are closely related, for the Elect acquire knowledge of eternal truth. Also, Augustine is a converted person, known by God, and after his (sudden) conversion comes the transformation of the inner self. The essence of this transformation is indicated as ‘coming to the light’. The next part of the article focuses on the essentials of Manichaeism’s views of sexual concupiscence and the transmission of original sin. Sexuality is referred to in a highly negative way; sexual desire is the primordial sin and the punishment for sin, which procreates itself by means of the copulation; sexual concupiscence is pre-eminently typical of the kingdom of darkness, the realm of evil, i.e. matter; its distinctive feature is random motion. Augustine also refers to sexual concupiscence in a highly negative way: it is sinful; a punishment for sin, and sin is propagated through it. The sinful nature of libido or concupiscentia sexualis is pre-eminently evident in its random motion.