Concerning the Nature of Good, Against the Manichæans
Classic translation
5th c. · Polemics & Heresiology · English translation, 1890
Source edition: Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series I (ed. Philip Schaff, 1886–90)
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Contents
Introduction & Notes
Concerning the Nature of Good, Against the Manichæans
- Preface
- 1. God the Highest and Unchangeable Good, from Whom are All Other Good Things…
- 2. How This May Suffice for Correcting the Manichæans
- 3. Measure, Form, and Order, Generic Goods in Things Made by God
- 4. Evil is Corruption of Measure, Form, or Order
- 5. The Corrupted Nature of a More Excellent Order Sometimes Better Than an…
- 6. Nature Which Cannot Be Corrupted is the Highest Good; That Which Can, is…
- 7. The Corruption of Rational Spirits is on the One Hand Voluntary, on the…
- 8. From the Corruption and Destruction of Inferior Things is the Beauty of the…
- 9. Punishment is Constituted for the Sinning Nature that It May Be Rightly…
- 10. Natures Corruptible, Because Made of Nothing
- 11. God Cannot Suffer Harm, Nor Can Any Other Nature Except by His Permission
- 12. All Good Things are from God Alone
- 13. Individual Good Things, Whether Small or Great, are from God
- 14. Small Good Things in Comparison with Greater are Called by Contrary Names
- 15. In the Body of the Ape the Good of Beauty is Present, Though in a Less…
- 16. Privations in Things are Fittingly Ordered by God
- 17. Nature, in as Far as It is Nature, No Evil
- 18. Hyle, Which Was Called by the Ancients the Formless Material of Things, is…
- 19. To Have True Existence is an Exclusive Prerogative of God
- 20. Pain Only in Good Natures
- 21. From Measure Things are Said to Be Moderate-Sized
- 22. Measure in Some Sense is Suitable to God Himself
- 23. Whence a Bad Measure, a Bad Form, a Bad Order May Sometimes Be Spoken of
- 24. It is Proved by the Testimonies of Scripture that God is Unchangeable. The…
- 25. This Last Expression Misunderstood by Some
- 26. That Creatures are Made of Nothing
- 27. ’From Him’ And ‘Of Him’ Do Not Mean The Same Thing
- 28. Sin Not From God, But From The Will of Those Sinning
- 29. That God is Not Defiled by Our Sins
- 30. That Good Things, Even the Least, and Those that are Earthly, are by God
- 31. To Punish and to Forgive Sins Belong Equally to God
- 32. From God Also is the Very Power to Be Hurtful
- 33. That Evil Angels Have Been Made Evil, Not by God, But by Sinning
- 34. That Sin is Not the Striving for an Evil Nature, But the Desertion of a…
- 35. The Tree Was Forbidden to Adam Not Because It Was Evil, But Because It Was…
- 36. No Creature of God is Evil, But to Abuse a Creature of God is Evil
- 37. God Makes Good Use of the Evil Deeds of Sinners
- 38. Eternal Fire Torturing the Wicked, Not Evil
- 39. Fire is Called Eternal, Not as God Is, But Because Without End
- 40. Neither Can God Suffer Hurt, Nor Any Other, Save by the Just Ordination of…
- 41. How Great Good Things the Manichæans Put in the Nature of Evil, and How…
- 42. Manichæan Blasphemies Concerning the Nature of God
- 43. Many Evils Before His Commingling with Evil are Attributed to the Nature of…
- 44. Incredible Turpitudes in God Imagined by Manichæus
- 45. Certain Unspeakable Turpitudes Believed, Not Without Reason, Concerning the…
- 46. The Unspeakable Doctrine of the Fundamental Epistle
- 47. He Compels to the Perpetration of Horrible Turpitudes
- 48. Augustin Prays that the Manichæans May Be Restored to Their Senses