Mani

Mani is presented as the founder of Manichaeism, a widely spreading religious movement whose account of evil attracted Augustine for nine years. The book offers only a brief account of Mani himself; its emphasis is on the movement’s teachings and their place in Augustine’s search for an explanation of moral struggle.

Identity and Historical Setting

Mani lived in the Third century, and Manichaeism began in Persia. The account supplies no further details of his life, but identifies him as the movement’s founder and notes that its influence extended widely.

Manichaean Teaching

Manichaeism understood existence through a conflict between light and darkness, or spirit and the material world. It located evil in the material part of human beings, making the body—not the mind—the problem. This dualistic framework combined ideas from various Eastern religious movements and emphasized self-denial as a means of combating evil. Its elaborate mythology belonged to a system Augustine would later reject.

Influence on Augustine

Augustine was troubled by the source of evil and by the difficulty of resisting it. Manichaeism appealed to him because it connected evil with the material body and thus seemed to explain his moral difficulties. He remained attracted to the sect for nine years, but eventually became dissatisfied: questions that mattered to him went unanswered, including in his encounter with the respected Manichaean teacher Faustus. Augustine ultimately abandoned the movement in his continuing search for what was unchangeable. The book therefore records Mani’s significance chiefly through the reach of the religious system he founded and its temporary hold on Augustine.