Cui narro haec? Augustine and his Manichaean audience : a re-reading of the first three books of the Confessions
Date
2013-04
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
AOSIS Publishing
Abstract
The issue of intended audience in the first three books of Augustine’s Confessions is investigated
in light of the presence of terms and phrases that may have had special connotations for
potential Manichaean readers. This is done against the background of definitions of protreptic
and paraenetic, which typically revolve around audience location and communicative
purpose. Although it has become commonplace to refer to the Confessions as a protreptic the
work displays a number of characteristics more in line with current mainstream definitions of
paraenetic, amongst other things, by assuming the stance of addressing insiders in agreement
with the author’s world view. It is argued that the type of reader most receptive to the insider
stance and allusion to the Old Testament on the one hand and to the Manichaean material on
the other, would be a Manichaean apostate recently converted to Catholic Christianity.
Description
CITATION: Kotze, A. 2013. Cui narro haec? Augustine and his Manichaean audience : a re-reading of the first three books of the Confessions. HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies, 69(1): 1-8, doi: 10.4102/hts.v69i1.1357.
The original publication is available at http://www.hts.org.za
The original publication is available at http://www.hts.org.za
Keywords
Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Jippo. Confessiones, Manichaeans, Confessions, Moral exhortations
Citation
Kotze, A. 2013. Cui narro haec? Augustine and his Manichaean audience : a re-reading of the first three books of the Confessions. HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies, 69(1): 1-8, doi: 10.4102/hts.v69i1.1357