39. 1bid., 1, 2, 3.
Introduction 33 two natures with a doctrine of three periods or times. The "time of the begin ning" was the time in which the two unadulterated principles existed in opposi tion to one another. This first time was replaced by the "middle time" in which the attack of the world of darkness on the world of light led to a mingling of the two principles. The "third time" is the final state in which the dualism has been overcome. North African Manicheism identified the creator God of the Old Testament with the evil principle. In keeping with some earlier Christian tradi tions (Marcion) it therefore rejected the Old Testament and contrasted the good God of the New Testament with the evil God of the Old Testament. Because the created world is a mingling of light and darkness, it can only be the work of the evil God.
Augustine endeavored to refute this dualist system of thought on the basis of the Catholic creed and by way ofGenesis itself. He discussed in detail the Manichean rejection of the Old Testament, the supposed pre-existence of matter, the conflict between light and darkness, the inadequate idea of God and of his freedom and immutability, the goodness of his activity, and finally the origin of evil. He set the one creator God over against the dualism of two principles, and over against the idea of an emanation he set the creative action of the all-powerful God who freely created the world out of nothing.37 When Genesis spoke of darkness (Gn 1:2), it meant not an independent substance but the absence of light.38 And when the biblical text used the phrase "in the beginning" (Gn 1 : 1 ), it did not provide any foothold for the existence oftwo equally eternal principles. The phrase did not imply any temporal reference but referred rather to Christ, since he was "the Word with the Father, through which and in which all things were made."39 To the Manichean claim that evil was a substance Augus tine opposed the dialectic of conversio ad Deum and aversio a Deo, in order to defend the freedom of the human will.40
The first book ofOn Genesis: A Refutation of the Manichees is given its struc ture by three main themes: creation; the human being as image of God; and the history of salvation. These three themes are directed against the central myth of Mani's teaching: its cosmogony, its anthropogony, and the doctrine of the three times.41 ln Book lI, apart from the epilogue, the dispute with the Manichees retreats into the background; only at isolated points does the exegesis show an unmistak able anti-Manichean thrust. The creation of man from the clay of the earth in
37. See ibid., 1, 2, 4; 1, 6, 10-7,11. 38. See ibid., 1, 4, 7. 39. 1bid., 1, 2, 3. 40. See J. Ries, "La creation. 1'homme et l'histoire du salut dans le De Genesi contra Manichaeos de saint Augustin," in De Genesi contra Manichaeos, De Genesi ad litteram liber imperfectus (Lectio Augustini 8; Palermo, 1992) 65-97. 41. See On Genesis: A Refutation of the Manichees 11, 7, 8-8, 11.