7. See Confessions V1, 3, 4 (CCL 27, 76).
26 On Genesis: A Refutation of the Manichees ableness that had first led him to the Manichees, he did not hesitate to give up this cosmogony, that is, this mythical representation of the origin of the world, in favor of a cosmology, that is, a philosophically acceptable explanation of the universe and its formation.5
A decisive help in overcoming his own reservations regarding the biblical account ofcreation and in recognizing the untenableness ofManichean criticism was the sermons of Ambrose on the Hexaemeron with their allegorism and Neoplatonic spirit; Augustine may have heard them in Milan during Holy Week of 386 when he was a candidate for baptism.6 In these homilies Ambrose, too, came to grips with Manichean ideas. Augustine now realized that the Manichees wrongly appealed to Genesis 1:26 in order to criticize the anthropomorphic picture of God in the Old Testament. According to Ambrose, the image of God in the human being referred not to the body but to the spiritual soul.7 Augustine also learned here, for the first time, that evil is not a material substance but a defi ciency, namely, the lack of goodness. By way of such specific treatments the biblical preaching of the bishop of Milan led Augustine to the general insight that the Bible need not be interpreted exclusively according to the literal sense, as the Manichees demanded and followed in practice. lnstead he became aware that the allegorical method of interpretation was also legitimate. Looking back, he wrote: "l then expended much mental effort on trying to discover if I could in any way convict the Manichees of falsehood by some definite proofs."8
A first written criticism followed in 387/388 in the work The Catholic Way of Life and the Manichean Way of Life, which was composed while Augustine was still in Rome. After returning to North Africa and his hometown, Thagaste, at the end ofAugust, 388, Augustine found the necessary peace and leisure to compose his first commentary on Genesis within a year's time. With this he intended to counter the attacks of the Manichees: "The Manichees ... do not just go wrong by taking these books of the Old Testament in a way that is not correct, but . . . blaspheme by rejecting them outright with detestation."9
As Augustine says when looking back later, within the little community in which he was living with like-minded fellows he was constantly being faced with questions that may have resulted from his comrades being unsettled by the attacks of the Manichees. It is a known fact that at that time Manichean propa
5. See Confessions V, 14, 25 (CCL 27, 71f.). See M.-A. Vanier, "Manicheisme et pensfe augustinienne de la creation," in J. C. Schnaubelt and F. Van Fleieren (eds.), Augustine: Second Founder of the Faith (Collectanea Augustiniana; New York, 1 990) 42 1 -43 1 . 6. See Confessions V, 14, 27 (CCL 27, 7 1 ); The Advantage ofBelieving 8, 20 (CSEL 25/1 , 25). See P. Courcelle, Recherches sur les Confessions de Saint Augustin (Paris, 1968) 96-103. R.-J. Palanque, Saint Ambroise et l'Empire Romain (Paris. 1933) 519, argues for the year 387. 7. See Confessions V1, 3, 4 (CCL 27, 76). 8. Confessions, V, 14, 25 (Boulding, 132). 9. The Literal Meaning ofGenesis V111, 2, 5.