Why did Augustine fall for the Manichaeans?

Or, how six inches of muddy water can pretend to be as deep as the ocean.

Out of all the religious options on the buffet of beliefs, cults and practices available in the Roman Empire, why did Augustine fall in with the Manicheans?  They were dualists, seeing the basic principle of things as the opposition of good and evil.  But this kind of opposition of good and evil has a particular form, which we will look at later.

For now, in Confessions III.vi Augustine writes that he fell in with these "proud" men, who were carnales nimis et loquaces.  They were "carnal", that is, they were materialists.  The principles of good and evil appeared to him as material principles, and the Manicheaens' explanation of the world was essentially a materialist explanation.  Previously, Augustine noted that he was consumed with his attraction to the physical body - looking at a human being as physical only, without the spiritual.

This type of religion is, I think, at least partly the logical extension of his lust.  It is the religious form of lust.  It is craving a material, physical explanation for good and evil,  thinking that the physical world will provide everything that can satisfy a human being.  Augustine writes in III.vi:  "...sed secundum sensum carnis quaererum" - he was seeking after God only in a physical, material sense, only using the faculties of the body, not the mind.

[note to self: in a sense, this allows one to posit that moral choices are equal to physical conditions, that moral choice has only a material cause, and that what we are is reduced to our physical, material reality]

The Manicheans were also loquaces - they were eloquent, they could speak well.  Augustine already had compared the simple style of Scripture with the eloquence of Cicero, and Cicero won that battle.  Here again, it the the outward beauty of the words, not their content, which appeals to him.  The Manichean's also had this:  they had a "mixture of the syllables of thy holy Name, and of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Ghost, the Comforter". (III.vi)  That is, they combined the names of the familiar Christian faith with teaching contrary to the Christian faith.  They made the 'Trinity' (or rather a pale generic god dressing up in Jesus' name) a bit more palatable to Augustine.  And palatable is the correct word.  Something can taste good (appealing to the physical senses) without providing any nourishment for the soul.

Augustine - the Lenten blog project series

 

Comments

[Scott Gilbreath]

That link under your opening line is too subtle for most of us. If you got something to say, then let's hear it. (Not that I'm trying to put you on the spot, of course.)

Seriously, Joe, great post. Very thought-provoking.

[joe]

...it's coming

[sigmund, carl and alfred]

I'm with Scott- it is a good post. I'm grateful Alice pointed me on your direction.

I'm thinking about a post on change, growth, awareness and inevitability.

Hate me after I'm done.