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chapter three Indoctrination Given what we know of Augustine and his interests, Manichaeism was able to bring “religion”—that is, personal identification with a cultic community —into his life for the first time because of its engagement in the sort of philosophical and metaphysical discourse represented by his other studies. It offered perhaps the least cognitive dissonance with his intellectual pursuits of any cultic option in Africa. With this point of contact with his broader interests, it could serve as the overarching rubric and identity for his intellectual quest. Manichaean teachings nonetheless were integrated with the specific practices reviewed in the previous chapter, for which they served as rationales. By believing certain truths about the nature and condition of the universe and human beings within it, a person would be motivated to perform the prescribed disciplines and rituals that promised to produce desired results within that reality. Based on attitudes he displayed later in life, we may imagine with M. A. Vannier that, for Augustine, “The constraints of the sect constituted a transitory stage in the research of a rational explication of the world.”1 Taking his cue from Cicero, Augustine appears to have seen self-discipline primarily as a purification and training of the mind, which would then gain access to sublime truths unclouded by the body’s passions. But Cicero was long dead, and highly organized philosophical schools appeared to be largely things of the past. The Manichaean system of such self-perfection would therefore have to serve in their stead, and in his immediate environment seemed to present a well organized and strongly committed operation. Augustine therefore submitted himself to some degree to being defined Indoctrination 71 in his speech and actions by his commitment to Manichaeism, without by any means perfectly embodying the values, views, and ideals of Manichaeism as the system was “supposed to be.” In getting at the conversion process, we need to rid ourselves of two opposed and equally programmatic models of the human being. The first amounts to regarding people as passive receptacles into which faith is poured unaltered. The second views them as possessing essential selves that put on and take off public identities while remaining uni- fied and intact. Neither model fits what we see in Augustine’s or other cases of conversion. It would be presumptuous to assume that Augustine knew what he wanted for his life before he was exposed to various proposed identities and purposes put forward by such cultural entities as the Manichaean sect; just as it would be naive to consider him a tabula rasa on which Manichaeism could inscribe itself without resistance. Augustine’s indoctrination into the Manichaean world view had begun even before his initiation as an Auditor of the religion, in the various contacts he had with Manichaeans that first attracted him to the community. The initiation process included the confessional renarrativizing of his own past to provide personal, directly observed proofs that the universe possessed the characteristics Manichaeism attributed to it. Once initiated, Augustine attended Manichaean meetings and services, at which he received further instruction through didactic exposition of the religion’s world view, moral exhortation, and hymn singing. His membership in the community brought opportunities for him to learn more about the religion from private conversation and reading. Through these means he acquired a rudimentary understanding of the faith’s basic tenets and guidance in the way of life expected of those who wished to achieve the spiritual results the religion promised.2 Throughout the history of modern research into Manichaeism, the depth of Augustine’s knowledge of it has been actively debated. We can sort this debate into four distinct questions. First, how much access did Augustine have, as a Manichaean layperson, or Auditor, to the full teachings and practices of the Manichaean sect? Despite his references to hearing exposition of Manichaean texts (CEF 5.6), as well as reading them for himself (Conf 4.8.13), some in the field have taken the position that he would have been denied access to inner teachings reserved for the Elect.3 Augustine himself initially believed this to be the case, but by the time he left the sect, he had concluded that no such Manichaean esoterica existed. Auditors were taught fundamentally the same system as the Elect. Second, how avidly did he pursue his Manichaean stud- 72 chapter three ies and how comprehensive an understanding did he achieve? The amount of detail about Manichaeism Augustine was...

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