Scholars long recognize the important contribution of Manichaeism to the thinking of St. Augustine, the Bishop of Hippo (354-430). This book is an attempt to magnify how that influence shapes the theme of Good and Evil. The focus of this investigation is Augustine's earlier writings, composed prior to A.D. 400. Although written from a historical perspective, this work has implication to systematic theology on the predestination issue. It concludes that the concept of determinism, in Augustine's notion of predestination, is not a simple biblical derivation. Instead, the concept emerges from his wrestling with the Manichaean cosmological concern when dealing with the question of personal evil.
Kam-lun Edwin Lee
Augustine Cosmology Evil Good Manichaeism Predestination Systematic theology
«This book...opens several new vistas, relating to impressions Augustine acquired from Manichaeism, and how those impressions helped shape his own thinking in ways more than merely polemical. It should be axiomatic that one cannot know Augustine without knowing Manichaeism, and one hopes that Kam-lun Edwin Lee's study will help make it so.» (From the Foreword by J. Kevin Coyle, Saint Paul University, Ottawa, Canada)
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