Augustine's Confessions: Ten Studies

Johannes van Oort is an extra-ordinary professor of Patristics and Early Christianity at the University of Pretoria. He is an emeritus of Utrecht University and Radboud University Nijmegen. His most recent books include Mani and Augustine. Collected Essays on Mani, Manichaeism and Augustine (Brill 2020, reprint 2023) and the edited volume Manichaeism and Early Christianity. Selected Papers from the 2019 Pretoria Congress and Consultation (Brill 2021).

“... [Augustine’s Confessiones. Ten Studies by Johannes van Oort] ist ein detaillierte und jederzeit anregende Exegese wichtiger Passagen eines der meistgelesenen Texte der Christtentumgeschichte und abenländischen Geistesgeschichte insgesamt, die nicht nur zu der Frage ‘Augustin und der Manichäismus’ einen gewichtigen Beitrag leistet, sondern viele gut und allzu gut bekannte Abschnitte aus den Confessiones neu zu lessen lehrt.” Jörg Ulrich, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Winterberg, Theologische Literaturzeitung 150 (2025) 1/2."The focus of Johannes van Oort’s Augustine’s Confessions: Ten Studies, as the introduction states, is the extent to which the Confessions testifies to Augustine’s “profound knowledge of the teachings (and writings!) of his former co-religionists,” the Manichaeans. Through thisvan Oort hopes “to provide a fruitful impetus for a new commentary” on Augustine’s best-known work (xii), an endeavour in which, in my view, he succeeds excellently."Annemaré Kotze, Stellenbosch University, Journal of Early Christian Studies 33 (2025) 351-353."...the collection is a significant scholarly achievement. It challenges prevailing assumptions, calls for close textual attention to Augustine's words, and opens up new understanding of the Confessions." Christina Turner, Catholic University of Leuven, RELIGION & THEOLOGY 32 (2025) 1-3. "On trouvera rassemblées dans ce volume imposant dix études constituant le bilan d’une longue fréquentation de la thématique du manichéisme dans conf. et du rôle prédominant qu’il joua, selon l’A., grand spécialiste en la matière, dans la conversion d’Aug.—une influence jugée supérieure à celle de la philosophie néoplatonicienne. L’érudition qui caractérise l’ouvrage se retrouve dans la spécialisation présidant à l’orchestration d’ensemble. C’est ainsi qu’on trouvera, dans la première partie de l’ouvrage, l’élucidation de points très précis (...) L’autre partie du volume (chapitres 1, 6, 7 et 8 à 10) prend de la hauteur pour embrasser des thématiques aussi majeures pour l’étude de conf. que l’influence des écrits manichéens." Juliette de Dieuleveult, Revue d’Études Augustiniennes et patristiques 70 (2024) 386-387

• IntroductionAbbreviations1 Gnostic-Christian and Catholic-Christian Spirituality in Augustine’s Confessions1 Introduction2 Augustine’s Confessions3 Augustine and the Gnostic-Manichaean Concept of God4 Augustine and the Gnostic-Manichaean Sacred Meal5 Augustine’s Confessions as an Offering (hostia, sacrificium)6 Augustine’s Confessions as a Spiritual Document7 Conclusion2 Augustine and Mani’s Icon (Conf. 3,10–11)1 Rereading Conf. 3,10–112 Conclusions from Conf. 3,10–113 Did Augustine Really See Mani’s Icon?4 The Problem of Against Faustus 20,95 Final Remarks3 Monnica’s Bishop and the ‘filius istarum lacrimarum’ (Conf. 3,21)1 Introduction2 Where and Whence?3 Monnica’s Bishop4 ‘Vade (…) a me; ita uiuas, fieri non potest, ut filius istarum lacrimarum pereat’5 Conclusion4 A Note on ‘substomachans’ (Conf. 3,21)1 Introduction2 ‘Substomachans’3 Taking Into Account the Manichaean Background4 Julian of Eclanum’s Remark5 Conclusion5 Augustine’s De pulchro et apto (Conf. 4,20–27)1 Introduction2 The Manichaean Work’s Literary Form and Dedication to Hierius3 The Manichaean Work’s Speaking of ‘Beauty and ‘Harmony’ and Focus on the ‘Corporeal’4 ‘Not Able to See My Spirit’: Not Able to Attain the True Gnosis5 Virtue and Vice, Unity and Division6 Monad and Dyad7 Augustine’s Manichaean Dyad: Anger and Lust8 Anger, Lust and the Nourishment9 Once Again: a Fully Manichaean Treatise10 A Strikingly ‘Manichaean’ Finale?11 One Again: ‘Pulchrum’ and ‘Aptum’; ‘Decus’ and ‘Species’; ‘Monas’ and ‘Dyas’12 Conclusions and Final Remarks6 ‘God’ in Augustine’s Confessions (Conf. 1–7)1 Introduction: The Very First Sentences of Augustine’s Confessions2 Analysis of the First Sentences3 God Not ‘Material’ but ‘Triadic’/‘Trinitarian’4 Stages on Augustine’s Way to a Spiritual Concept of God (Conf. 3–6)5 The Essential Stage: Augustine’s Discovery of a Merely Spiritual Understanding of God (Conf. 7)6 Conclusions7 Augustine’s Conversion (Conf. 8,13–30)1 Introduction2 A: Manichaeism Explicitly Mentioned in Augustine’s Conversion Story3 B: Manichaeism Implicitly Present in Augustine’s Conversion Story4 Final Remarks5 Conclusions8 God, Memory, and Beauty (Conf. 10,1–38)1 Introduction2 Book 10 and Its Division3 Conclusions9 Christ as God’s Hand (Conf. 1–13)1 An Overview of the Texts from Augustine’s Confessions, with Brief Interpretation2 Summary and Preliminary Conclusion3 Notes on God’s Hand in the Pre-Augustinian Tradition4 Conclusion10 Sin and Concupiscence in Augustine’s Confessions (Conf. 1–13)1 Introduction2 Sin and Concupiscence in Augustine’s Early Years3 Sin and Concupiscence in Augustine’s Early Adolescence4 Sin and Concupiscence in Augustine’s Later Adolescence5 Sin and Concupiscence in Augustine’s Early Manhood and the Time of His Conversion in Milan6 Sin and Concupiscence in Augustine’s Present State7 Conclusions and Final RemarksIndex of Works of AugustineIndex of Manichaean SourcesIndex of Biblical TextsIndex of Ancient and Modern NamesIndex of Terms and Concepts