24. De libero arbitrio 1.2.4 (CCL 29:213); trans. Russell, FOTC 59:75.
ing the truth obtained divine aid for me, I would have been unable to rise from this fall and to breathe again in the former atmosphere of free inquiry. And as I took great pains to extricate myself from this perplexity, so I will follow the same procedure with you that led to my liberation. For God will be at hand and will enable us to understand what we have believed. We know well that we are following the course enjoined by the prophet who says: "Unless you believe, you shall not understand" (Is 7:9 [LXX]). We believe that all things in existence are from the one God, though He is not the author of sin. But this problem confronts the mind: If sins come from souls created by God, while these souls in turn come from God, how is it that sins are not at once chargeable to God?24
The Corruptible God of the Manichees
The Manichees offered, at first glance, an easy solution to the problem of evil: evil was a realm opposed to God, something that God neither made nor was responsible for. In Manichean myth, God sent forth an emanation of his own substance which, in turn, was captured by the Kingdom of Darkness, resulting in the world's current mixed-up condition. This cosmological myth implied that the God of the Manichees, while good in and of Himself, was divisible, changeable, and corruptible. It further implied that He is not all-powerful. Augustine credits his friend Nebridius with spotting this web of philosophic problems built into the very heart of Manichean cosmogony. Augustine came to see this as the most formidable argument against Manicheism. From Confessions, Book 7:
(2.3) That argument proposed by Nebridius so long ago back in Carthage—O Lord, that was enough for me to refute those deceived deceivers and voiceless chatterers (for out of them your Word never resonated). All of us who heard it were all struck by it: What would those forces of darkness, which had massed in opposition [to the Kingdom of Light], have done if You had refused to fight them? If one were to answer that You would have been harmed, then that would mean that You would be capable of violation and, thus, corruptible. If, however, one were to say that nothing is able to harm You, then no reason for fighting would arise, no fight such that some portion of You, some segment of Yours, or some offspring of Your very substance could get mixed up with those opposing powers (with natures that You supposedly did not create) and by them become so corrupted and so changed for the worse that blessedness would be turned into misery and need help to be
24. De libero arbitrio 1.2.4 (CCL 29:213); trans. Russell, FOTC 59:75.