Augustine's Manichaean Dilemma, Volume 1: Conversion and Apostasy, 373-388 C.E.
Augustine of Hippo is history's best-known Christian convert. The very concept of conversio owes its dissemination to Augustine's Confessions, and yet, as Jason BeDuhn notes, conversion in Augustine is not the sudden, dramatic, and complete transformation of self we likely remember it to be. Rather, in the Confessions Augustine depicts conversion as a lifelong process, a series of self-discoveries and self-departures. The tale of Augustine is one of conversion, apostasy, and conversion...
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Jason David BeDuhn reconstructs Augustine's decade-long adherence to Manichaeism, apostasy from it, and subsequent conversion to Nicene Christianity.
Introduction 1Ch. 1 Becoming Manichaean 21Ch. 2 Inhabitation 42Ch. 3 Indoctrination 70Ch. 4 Faustus 106Ch. 5 Exile 135Ch. 6 The Apostate 165Ch. 7 Conversion 193Ch. 8 Rationalizing Faith 218Ch. 9 A New Man? 244Bibliography 361Index 389
\ From the Publisher"A major contribution to Augustine studies."—Journal of Religion\ "BeDuhn's prose is, as usual, lucid and engaging. He brings a historical and methodological sophistication to his work that is sorely lacking in many studies of the patristic period. BeDuhn's deep knowledge of primary Manichaean sources and ritual procedures, along with his formidable grasp of his subject, makes him uniquely qualified to tackle the central importance of Manichaeism within a figure that looms so large in western intellectual tradition, but whose story is so often incompletely told."—Journal of Early Christian Studies\ "What did Augustine see in Manichaeism? Why did he stay so long? . . . BeDuhn's richly explored answers are worth a cover-to-cover read, presenting as he does such treasure culled from every aspect of Augustine's relationship with Manichaeism from his conversion to that sect to his apostasy from it."—Church History\ \ \
