Augustine Accused: Megalius, Manichaeism, and the Inception of the Confessions

Abstract

Although no one motive or purpose accounts for the complex character of the Confessions , one relatively neglected factor in the context of its composition is the controversy within the African Catholic Church over Augustine’s Manichaean past, and the circumstances in which the Primate of Numidia, Megalius, objected to Augustine’s advancement to the episcopacy on these grounds and subjected him to an episcopal inquiry. By reconstructing the likely details of Megalius’s charges against Augustine and comparing them with the facts of Augustine’s history as they would have been viewed by those unsympathetic to him, we can better appreciate the dire circumstances in which Augustine composed several reflections in the mid-390s c.e . on the ethics of lying by either commission or omission, and how at least part of the Confessions’ narrative is likely to have taken shape in the context of Augustine’s strategic response to charges he could not answer on the record of his own known conduct. By making the issue one of the interior progress of his soul, invisible to those who only could see the lagging conduct of his behavior, Augustine won over the guardians of the African Catholica, and went on to build upon the foundation of his defense the Confessions as we now know it.

Manichaeism in Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth: Its Implications for Postcolonial Nations

“…In the process, it exerted an enormous influence on the formation of other religious communities' credo. For example, BeDuhn (2009) undertook in his much-acclaimed critical article, "Augustine Accused: Megalius, Manichaeism, and the Inception of the Confessions", a thorough investigation to unravel the truth to the extent Manichaeism influenced such formidable Christian thinkers as Augustine, Megalius and Petilian etc., and said, "Augustine had never made any secret of the fact that he had once been a Manichaean." (p. 95) Indeed, the Manichean mobilization was so ruthlessly marauding that it admitted of no obstruction-social or theological-on its way to progress.…”

Augustine on Manichaeism and Charisma

“…508-9. 3 [20], p. 94) yet formulated his most striking contrast between his company and Manichaeism years before his critic's protest. In his Concerning The True Religion, Augustine asserted that God assisted -virtuous readers‖ to comprehend their faith's sacred texts, whereas the Manichaean specialists, who proved to be unable to break their bad habits (consuetudinem suam vincere nequeunt), were destined to misconstrue the meaning of those texts, because they posited a powerful evil, independent of good (and of God), to justify their powerlessness.…”

“…Bishop Ambrose of Milan, who was an astute administrator and charismatic Nicene (or mainstream) Christian-and whose oratory he admired-became more a foil than a friend and regular correspondent ( [25], pp. [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]. It would appear that Manichaeism left Augustine suspicious of charismatics' claims upon devotees' credulity.…”