(ed.), Origeniana Quinta (Leuven, 1992) 179-185.
34 On Genesis: A Refutation of the Manichees
Genesis 2:7 greatly displeased the Manichees because they held the soul of Adam to be a particle of the divine nature. In contrast, Augustine explained in detail his understanding of the body-soul relationship before and after the fall.42
But Augustine had not only to come to grips with Manichean anthropogony; he also had to bring the materialistic and realistic portrayal in the biblical story into harmony with the spiritualizing movement of his own Neoplatonic philos ophy. The complexity of this task led him to formulate his own anthropology in ways that did not always seem unambiguous. Did he hold the view that the first human beings were originally souls which then acquired a body only as a result of sin? Or did he believe that human beings had a bodily existence even before the fall, but that only after the fall did they receive bodies that were transitory and mortal? The interpretation of Augustine' s views at that time has been the subject of intense discussion among scholars.43
There is also an anti-Manichean emphasis in the interpretation of the serpent in Paradise. Augustine does not let the opportunity slip of connecting the seduc tive words addressed to the first human couple (Gn 3:5) with the promise of a higher knowledge with which the Manichees had not only at one time drawn Augustine himself into fealty to them44 but were still seeking missionary success among the faithful of the North African Church.45
Beyond a doubt, Augustine used various sources for this work, but a clear identification of them is possible in only a few instances. Chiefly deserving of consideration as concrete sources for Augustine's work are Ambrose (On Para dise), Origen (Homilies on Leviticus),*6 and Gregory of Elvira (Homilies).*1 lmportance of the work
In this work that was composed before his ordination as a priest we can already see two literary genres in which Augustine would later distinguish himself as a theological writer: the exegetical commentary and the antiheretical treatise. Although in subsequent years he composed broader and deeper studies
42. See R. J. Teske, "St. Augustine's View of the Original Human Condition inDe Genesi contra Manichaeos," Augustinian Studies 22 (1991) 141-154; R. J. O'Connell, book review of "R. J. Teske, Saint Augustine on Genesis," Augustinian Studies 22 (1991) 223-230; idem, "The De Genesi contra Manichaeos and the Origin of the Soul," Revue des eludes augustiniennes 39 (1993) 129-141. 43. See The Advantage ofBelieving 1 , 9; 9, 2 1 (CSEL 1 5/1 , 4 and 26). 44. See On Genesis: A Refutation of the Manichees 11, 25, 38-26, 40. 45. See R. J. Teske, "Origen and St. Augustine's First Commentaries on Genesis," in R. J. Daly (ed.), Origeniana Quinta (Leuven, 1992) 179-185. 46. See Weber (ed.), Augustinus: De Genesi contra Manichaeos (note 16, above), 1 8-29; Carrozzi, SantAgostino, Le Genesi difesa contro i Manichei (note 16, above) 3-46. 47. See D. Weber, "Adam, Eva und die Schlange. iiberlegungen zu Augustins 1nterpretation des SUndenfalls in De Genesis contra Manichaeos," in L'Etica cristiana nei secoli III e IV: Eredita e confronti (Studia Ephemeridis Augustinianum 53; Rome, 1996) 401-407.