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3 - Anticipated Readers

from Part I - Circumstances of Composition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 February 2020

By
Jason David BeDuhn
Edited by
Tarmo Toom
Tarmo Toom
Affiliation:
Georgetown University, Washington DC
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Summary

The complexity of its themes and concerns suggests that Augustine anticipated multiple audiences for the “Confessions,” including his critics within the Catholic and Donatist churches of North Africa and his former compatriots among the Manichaean community. For the former, it served as an apology, demonstrating the authenticity of his spiritual development away from his Manichaean past. For the latter, it served both as a polemic, cleverly criticizing Manichaeism in the guise of self-condemnation, and as a protreptic, offering himself as an exemplar of a path to conversion commensurable with those spiritual values he could appreciate in the Manichaeans, despite their heresy.

Keywords

ManichaeismconversionapologypolemicprotrepticFaustus
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Companion to Augustine's 'Confessions' , pp. 46 - 60
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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References

Further Reading

BeDuhn, J. D. Augustine’s Manichaean Dilemma 2: Making a “Catholic” Self, 388–401 C.E. Divinations: Rereading Late Ancient Religion. Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2013.Google Scholar
Chadwick, H. “On Re-reading the Confessions.” In Saint Augustine the Bishop: A Book of Essays, eds. LeMoine, F. and Kleinhenz, C.. Garland Reference Library of the Humanities 1830. New York: Garland, 1994, 139–160.Google Scholar
Feldmann, E. “Et inde rediens fecerat sibi deum (Conf. 7, 20). Beobachtungen zur Genese des augustinischen Gottesbegriffes und zu dessen Funktion in den Confessiones.” In Collectanea Augustiniana. Mélanges T. J. van Bavel, eds. Bruning, B., Lamberigts, M., and Van Houtem, J.. Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1990, 881–904.Google Scholar
Joubert, C. “Le Livre XIII et la structure des Confessiones de Saint Augustin.” Revue des sciences religieuses 66 (1992), 77–117.Google Scholar
Kotzé, A. Augustine’s Confessions: Communicative Purpose and Audience. Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae 71. Leiden: Brill, 2004.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Oort, J. “Augustine’s Critique of Manichaeism: The Case of Confessions III 6,10 and Its Implications.” In Aspects of Religious Contact and Conflict in the Ancient World, ed. van der Horst, P. W.. Utrechtse theologische reeks 31. Utrecht: Faculteit der Godgeleerdheid, Universiteit Utrecht, 1995, 57–68.Google Scholar
Vecchi, A. “L’antimanichaeismo nelle ‘Confessioni’ de Sant’Agostino.” Giornale di metafisica 20 (1965), 91–121.Google Scholar

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  • Anticipated Readers
  • Edited by Tarmo Toom, Georgetown University, Washington DC
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to Augustine's 'Confessions'
  • Online publication: 22 February 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108672405.005
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  • Anticipated Readers
  • Edited by Tarmo Toom, Georgetown University, Washington DC
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to Augustine's 'Confessions'
  • Online publication: 22 February 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108672405.005
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Anticipated Readers
  • Edited by Tarmo Toom, Georgetown University, Washington DC
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to Augustine's 'Confessions'
  • Online publication: 22 February 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108672405.005
Available formats
×