Human Destinies: Philosophical Essays in Memory of Gerald Hanratty

Chapter Five: A Zealous Convert

f i v e a Zealous Convert the legacy of augustine’s Break with manichaean Gnosticism Eoin G. Cassidy twelve books—no less than half of augustine’s prodigious output in the fifteen years after his conversion—were directly aimed at countering the teaching of the manichaeans. in many of the others written during this lengthy period, the effects of his struggle to free himself from the teachings of this sect are not far below the surface. if this were the only evidence it would indeed be ample testimony to the momentous effect on augustine’s life and writings of nine years as a manichaean , but in addition we have from his own pen, in the Confessions, a vivid picture of the manner in which the legacy of his nine formative years as a manichaean hearer or aspirant would determine not only the course of much of his subsequent life but, even more importantly, the questions that would shape the course of a lifelong defense of the core truths of Christianity.1 a key theme that marked the philosophical output of the late Gerald Hanratty was his analysis of the persistence of Gnostic speculation in the history of european culture and of the manner in which the age112 a Zealous Convert 113 old conflict between Gnosticism and Christianity has contributed to the shape of european civilization as we know it today.2 as a contribution to furthering the scope of his work, this essay will examine how augustine’s struggle with the Gnostic speculation of manichaeism influenced his subsequent philosophical and theological output. Given the significance of augustine for the history of Christianity, the latter provides an invaluable lens through which to view the evolving shape of Christianity as it has engaged with european civilization over the past sixteen hundred years. understanding Gnosticism Following the important discovery in 1945 in upper egypt of the nag Hammadi library of Gnostic texts, there has been an unprecedented growth of scholarly and public interest in the origins and nature of Gnosticism.3 Gerald Hanratty’s pioneering research carried out over many years merits a high place in this field of endeavor. the eclectic nature of much Gnostic writing and the fact that the Gnostics showed no interest in recording historical data make it difficult to trace with any accuracy the origins and sources of Gnosticism. there has been much speculation that the origins of Gnosticism predate the Christian era or at least that the original Gnostics were influenced by a wide range of philosophical and mythological traditions emanating from such diverse places as egypt, syria, Babylonia, and iran. in a study entitled “the early Gnostics,” Hanratty offers a penetrating reflection on the various and competing claims and concludes that there is no consensus on this issue.4 this fact, allied to the difficulty in finding clear documentary evidence to substantiate the various and competing claims on the origins and sources of Gnostic speculation , leads Hanratty to conclude: it is futile to attempt to trace the origins of the Gnostic movement to a particular location. the context in which it emerged and developed was the complex and varied culture of the areas into which 114 Eoin G. Cassidy Christianity was introduced in the first half of the second century aD. the Gnostic movement assumed many different faces as it absorbed materials from the numerous religious and philosophical currents which circulated in the cosmopolitan societies of the age. the Gnostics borrowed ideas, images and symbols from the Old and new testaments, from Greek and Oriental mystery religions, from competing philosophical schools, from the storehouse of mythology, and from astrological, alchemical and magical sources.5 Despite the diffuse character of Gnostic speculation, Hanratty suggests it constitutes a distinct category of philosophico-religious speculation. the cardinal principle of the Gnostics was their assumption that they were the recipients of privileged knowledge which “freed them from what they saw as the anguish, terror, torpor, forgetfulness, or even drunkenness which afflicted those who remained in a state of ignorance.”6 most importantly, this privileged and absolute knowledge (gnosis), which was confined to those elite who had been initiated, was also a guarantee of salvation. it liberated them from the worldly existence to which the uninitiated were consigned. in proposing an explanatory hypothesis for the existence of the world in their overall cosmology, some Gnostics argued for the acceptance of a radical dualism, positing two primordial divinities or...