The protreptic-paraenetic purpose of Augustine's Confessions and its Manichean audience

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In this dissertation I attempt to open up new perspectives on the literary qualities and theunity of Augustine's Confessions by reading the work in the light of the context within which itfirst functioned. Part 1, Prolegomena, consists of a survey of secondary literature (in chapter1) that focuses on research on the literary characteristics of the work, followed by atheoretical exploration of the two aspects that constitute the focus of this study, the genreand the audience of the Confessions. Chapter 2.1 examines how the literary practices andgeneric conventions of late Antiquity should inform our reading of the work. This is achievedthrough a discussion of the implications of genre analysis in general (2.1.1), followed by anexamination of the conventions of the ancient protreptic genre (2.1.2), a look at the parallelsbetween the Confessions and three of its literary antecedents and between the Confessionsand Augustine's Contra Academicos (2.1.3), and an evaluation of the perspectives offered onthe unity of the work by this procedure (2.1.4). Chapter 2.2 starts with a discussion of theconcept of intended audience (2.2.1) and proceeds to provide the background needed tofollow the arguments on the specific segment of Augustine's audience that I consider here,the Manicheans (2.2.2).Part 2 of the dissertation consists of the analyses of selected passages but attempts at thesame time to give an accurate account of how genre and intended audience are embodied inthe text as a whole. In chapter 3 I show that Augustine's meditation on Ps 4 in the centralsection of the Confessions (9.4.8-11) is a protreptic that targets a Manichean audience (3.1)through Augustine's identification with this audience (3.2) and the prevalent use ofManichean terminology and categories (3.3). In chapter 4 I analyse in a more systematic waythe expression of protreptic purpose through various devices throughout the Confessions:foreshadowing in the opening paragraph (4.1), the use of a shifting persona (4.2), allusion toMatt 7:7 (4.3), and the theme of the protreptic power of reading and listening (4.5). I evaluatehow pervasive the expression of protreptic intent is (4.4) and end with an examination of theprotreptic-paraenetic purpose of the first section of the allegorical exposition of the creationstory in book 13 (4.6). Chapter 5 examines the degree to which the Manicheans are targetedby the text as a whole as an important segment of its intended audience. I examine the useof the theme of friendship to evoke Augustine's erstwhile Manichean friendships and thehistory of failed communication with this group (5.1), the role Augustine intends curiositas toplay in coaxing the Manicheans into reading yet another attempt to convert them (5.2), andonce again how pervasive the concerns with a Manichean audience is (5.3). I conclude thischapter, like the previous one, with an analysis of the last section of the allegory in book 13, where I discern towards the end an intensification of indications that Augustine ispreoccupied with his Manichean audience (5.4).

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University