Manichaeism, once a gnostic world religion, soon spread to the Roman West. Here, the life and the work of the future (and, without doubt, most influential) Church Father Augustine (354-430) became inextricably connected with Manichaean teachings and practices. In view of the many new Manichaean texts in particular, it turns out that, without a thorough knowledge of the ‘Religion of Light’, Augustine’s theology and philosophy are hardly conceivable.
This volume brings together the selected papers of the Fribourg-Utrecht symposium Augustine and Manichaeism in the Latin West, organized on behalf of the International Association of Manichaean Studies in Fribourg (Switzerland) in the summer of 1998. It contains a considerable number of contributions by leading authorities on the subject, focussing on the diffusion of Mani’s religion in the Latin West and on its impact upon St Augustine.