CONTINENTAL THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

THE ORIGINS OF AUGUSTINE’S THEOLOGY ON CONCUPISCENCE, MASSA

DAMNATA AND LIMBO IN LIGHT OF EARLY CHRISTIAN, GNOSTIC,

MANICHAEAN, (NEO-)PLATONIC,... SOURCES

For the course:

Dissertation (RE 301WE)

May, 2017
 Dedicated to the efforts of Prof. Gustav Friedrich Wiggers, which have not been forgotten.

His book entitled An Historical Presentation of Augustinism and Pelagianism contains very

useful overviews on different topics concerning Augustine’s and Pelagius’ theology in light

of the earlier church fathers’ views. Up to date, it remains one of the most thorough works on

this topic. I am also indebted to the Maurits Sabbe library in Leuven, for its useful sources on

Manichaeism and (Neo-)Platonism. Furthermore, I am indebted to Prof. Johannes van Oort

for his thorough studies on the Manichaean religion and the evolution of Augustine’s

thoughts concerning the topic of Manichaeism. Through his collection of academic papers,

published on academia.edu, he pointed me to many useful and reliable sources. I would also

like to thank Prof. Naoki Kamimura and Prof. Makiko Sato for their kind email

correspondence. Last, but certainly not least, I am indebted to Dr. Bob Welch, for his

academic mentorship and unceasing kindness towards me, which have certainly helped me in

preparing this dissertation.

 TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 1

I. AUGUSTINE’S CLAIMS ............................................................................................... 5

II. AUGUSTINE’S CLAIMS EXAMINED........................................................................ 8

2.1. Concupiscence ............................................................................................................ 8

2.1.1. Augustine’s Writings ............................................................................................ 8

2.1.2. Early Christian Sources ...................................................................................... 10

2.1.3. Gnostic, Manichaean,… Sources ........................................................................ 16

2.2. Massa Damnata......................................................................................................... 27

2.2.1. Augustine’s Writings .......................................................................................... 27

2.2.2. Early Christian Sources ...................................................................................... 28

2.2.3. Manichaean Influence ........................................................................................ 32

2.3. Limbo ....................................................................................................................... 35

2.3.1. Augustine’s Writings .......................................................................................... 35

2.3.2. Early Sources ..................................................................................................... 37

CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................. 40

APPENDIX: THE PRESENT-DAY CATHOLIC CHURCH ON AUGUSTINE’S

DENIAL OF LIMBO ........................................................................................................ 42

BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................. 43

iii
iv
 1

INTRODUCTION

My thesis statement is that while Augustine’s views on concupiscence,1 at least in the

broad sense of the word, have some predecessors within orthodoxy,2 his massa damnata-

concept and his denial of limbo were entirely new teachings within the Catholic Church.

There is no basis for these new teachings within the pre-Augustinian orthodox tradition but

they seem to at least have some connection with older Gnostic, Manichaean,… concepts. All

this will be shown in this dissertation.

The methodology was to, first of all, divide the work into three sections, after which I

have come to a final conclusion. The three sections are respectively “concupiscence”, “massa

damnata” and “limbo”. For each section I started with Augustine’s essential writings on each

topic. Then I have investigated whether there were any Patristic sources, from before

Augustine’s writings, which might already have included this particular theory. At the same

time, I investigated whether there are sources from the time of Augustine’s works on the

section’s topic, which support his claim. After having examined such early Christian sources,

I looked into the possibility of his ideas having been loaned from extra-patristic sources such

as Gnostic, Manichaean, Platonist,… writings.

All the knowledge I have gained allowed us a proper conclusion for this dissertation,

which is hoped to enlighten the reader even further and give him proper barriers, as to what it

is specifically that this work has achieved.

1
I will only discuss sexual concupiscence. Concupiscence can also be described as sexual desire or lust.
2
This claim does not deny that it has older Gnostic roots or that Augustine’s specific interpretation has
its roots in Gnosticism. We will discuss this within this dissertation.
 2

The delimitations are that it goes without saying that this dissertation will be

intentionally limited by respecting the historical timeframe I am discussing. 3 Because I will

only try to figure out what the specific orthodox, Gnostic,… sources were for developing

Augustine’s thoughts on concupiscence, massa damnata and his denial of limbo, I will not

look into indirect influences4 but only direct influences on Augustine’s way of thinking. My

methodology will only be a church-historical academic research. Concerning this dissertation,

I will not examine post-Augustinian views of the Church, as such a strategy would only

distract from what I am discussing. I will only discuss those (items within) ancient writings

that are connected to the doctrinal matters of concupiscence, massa damnata and the concept

of limbo.

What was typical for the days of the early Church was that many honourable and

highly respected church fathers had the tendency of incorporating culturally accepted

philosophical concepts into their ways of looking at the Bible. Augustine stated concerning

the advantageous Christians to incorporate Platonic concepts into the early church, “We are

not only not to shrink from it, but to claim it for our own use from those who have unlawful

possession of it.”5 Furthermore, the Bible was to be read only for piety, all the rest could be

found in Platonic books: “Upon these [books by the Platonists], therefore, I believe, it was

Your pleasure that I should fall before I studied Your Scriptures, that it might be impressed

on my memory how I was affected by them. (…) [If] I afterwards [had] fallen upon those

volumes, they might perhaps have withdrawn me from the solid ground of piety.”6

3
Post-Augustinian sources are referred to within footnotes but only to give the reader some more
information. We always indicate that these sources are post-Augustinian and they do not influence this thesis.
4
For example: Document Y influenced person Z who influenced Augustine. An example of this
delimitation can be found in footnote 66 on Encratites.
5
Augustine On Christian Doctrine 2.40.60. Cited from “On Christian Doctrine (Book II),” New
Advent, accessed February 9, 2017, http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/12022.htm.
6
Ibid., Confessions 7.20. Clarification added between square brackets.
 3

This way of interpreting the Scriptures was based on the advice of Ambrose, who was

Augustine’s mentor in the Catholic faith. Ambrose encouraged Augustine to look at the Holy

Scriptures “in a spiritual [Platonic] manner”: “I heard Ambrose, in his sermons to the people,

oftentimes most diligently recommend this text as a rule—The letter kills, but the Spirit gives

life. [And, in essence, come to a spiritual understanding of the Texts of the Bible.]”7

More specifically, Ambrose’s influence on Augustine was important concerning sexual

concupiscence and marriage, since the way he applied the Scriptures was dependent upon his

interpretation of the Scriptures. In this regard it was not a secret that Platonism was already a

common influence in the early church. As Porphyry, a critic of the early church and of the

Bible, wrote about the Christians of his day: “Desiring to find a solution of the baseness of

the Jewish Scriptures rather than abandon them, (…) they boast that the plain words of Moses

are enigmas, and regard them as oracles full of hidden mysteries.” In this way they create

wild interpretations. 8

7
Ibid., 6.4.6. Before Augustine met bishop Ambrose, he expressed his desire to meet him. Ibid.,
5.13.23. From the way Augustine looked up to Ambrose, we can deduce that he gained much influence from
him, particularly in regards to his Neo-Platonic and Christian concepts. cf. Peter Brown, Augustine of Hippo: A
Biography (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000), 76. On page 485, Brown calls the Milanese
Christians under Ambrose “Christian Platonists.” Brown, Augustine, 485. We also know that Augustine called
Ambrose “our bishop” when he wrote to Christian Platonic intellectualist Manlius Theodorus who looked up to
the works of Plotinus. Augustine On Blessed Life 1.4. That Ambrose’s works were filled with Platonism is
summarized well by Brown when he stated: “Ambrose (…) had cited Plotinus in his sermons and might even
have been the person who first introduced Augustine to Neo-Platonic ideas." Brown, Augustine, 496. This
conjecture, that Augustine received a high view of Neo-Platonism from Ambrose, will be especially useful later
on in this dissertation. For this dissertation, it should also be pointed out that Augustine and Ambrose had
different views in regards to sexual intercourse and marriage. Ambrose was against sex, even within marriage.
Ambrose In Ps. 61.21. Augustine Confessions 6.3.3. While Augustine was not opposed to sexual intercourse, if
it was for the sake of bringing forth children. Augustine Marriage and Concupiscence 2, 26, 43. Brown,
Augustine, 392. Another remark that should be made here, in our effort to honestly represent Augustine, is that it
is clear that, after many years, Augustine became less fond of certain Neo-Platonic concepts for interpreting the
Scriptures. This tendency is visible when one compares his Retractions to his earlier works. A useful secondary
quote on this matter comes from Peter Brown: “When Augustine finally approached the priest Simplicianus
(perhaps in late July 386), he had already moved imperceptibly towards Catholic Christianity. He was, indeed,
an enthusiastic convert to 'Philosophy'; but this 'Philosophy' had already ceased to be an entirely independent
Platonism.” Ibid., 97. For a similar line of thought, read: Augustine Trapè, ‘Escatologia e antiplatonismo di
sant’Agostino,’ Augustinianum 18 (Rome: Patristic Institute Augustinianum, 1978): 237–244.
8
Porphyry in Eusebius Church History 6.19.4. Cited from “NPNF2-01. Eusebius Pamphilius: Church
History. CHAPTER XIX.—Circumstances Related of Origen,” Christian Classics Ethereal Library, accessed
February 9, 2017, http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf201.
 4

According to Origen, Celsus, who was another critic of early Christianity, wrote in the same

line of thought:
“The more modest among Jews and Christians are ashamed of these things [In context
he is talking about how Yahweh God formed Eve out of one of Adam’s ribs], and
endeavour to give them somehow an allegorical signification.” 9
And in the 1800’s, Dr. Edwin Hatch made the following summarizing remark on the way in

which the Hellenized Christians of Augustine’s day regarded the Scriptures:

‘It has been one of the many results of the controversies into which the metaphysical
tendencies of the Greeks led the churches of the fourth and fifth centuries, to postpone
almost to modern times the acceptance of "the literal grammatical and historical
sense" as the true sense of Scriptures.’10
This clearly indicates how the early church interpreted the Bible, predominately with

different allegorical interpretations. Therefore, it would come as no surprise to us, if it is in

fact the case that Augustine was also directly or indirectly influenced by Platonism or some

other form of Gnostic doctrine when arriving at his theological conclusions in regard to his

personal views on concupiscence, the sinful state of humanity as a race and the strict black

and white thinking of the destiny of infants; unbaptized infants will go into eternal perdition

while those who have the grace of baptism conferred to them, are to go into eternal bliss.

9
Origen Against Celsus 4.38. Cited from “Contra Celsus, Book IV”, New Advent, accessed February 9,
2017, http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/04164.htm. I added the text which is in between the brackets, to
explain the context to the reader.
10
Edwin Hatch, The Influence of Greek Ideas and Usages Upon the Christian Church (London:
Williams and Norgate, 1892), 82. One of his lectures on this matter can be read here: Edwin Hatch, “Lecture IX
– Greek and Christian Theology – III. God as the Supreme Being,” Google Drive of William Scott Taylor,
accessed February 13, 2017, https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9uoKbfrwJ69U1NPRE45WExPeHM/view.
 5

I. AUGUSTINE’S CLAIMS

Augustine claimed that concupiscence was not sinful in and of itself but that it was the

result of sin.11 Sexual intercourse, within a marriage relationship with the intent of

procreation,12 was not sinful but contained a form of evil. 13 Because of this concupiscence,

which was passed down from the genitals, 14 infants were born with this stain of original sin.

“Whatever offspring is born of this concupiscence of the flesh is bound by original sin,
unless it be reborn in Him whom the Virgin conceived without that concupiscence; for
which reason, when He deigned to be born in the flesh, He alone was born without
sin.”15

11
Augustine Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 1.13.27. For the idea that concupiscence is not sinful
in and of itself, see also Brown, Augustine, 391. The term peccata originalia (original sin) was invented by
Augustine. Robin Lane Fox, Augustine: Conversions and Confessions (London: Penguin Books, 2016), 37. This
does not mean, however, that the concept originated with him.
12
“At no stage in his career did Augustine deny the idea that marriage as such was an institution willed
by God for the purposes of procreation.” Mathijs Lamberigts, “A critical evaluation of critiques of Augustine’s
view of sexuality” in Augustine and His Critics: Essays in Honour of Gerald Bonner, eds. Robert Dodaro and
George Lawless (London: Routledge, 2000), 184.
13
Augustine Marriage and Concupiscence 2.26.43. Peter Brown wrote that Augustine saw “intercourse
as an element of evil encapsulated in every marriage”. Brown, Augustine, 393 but he also wrote that Augustine
“expected that, ideally, intercourse should take place only to conceive children.” Ibid., 392. This view was not
the most extreme view going around at that time, according to Brown who stated that, when taking the A.D. 397
Dolbeau Sermon on marriage into account, it becomes clear that Augustine did not agree with Jerome, who
upheld a radical ascetic ideal. Ibid., Augustine, 500. This even more radical ascetic ideal is that Jerome was
against any form of sexual intercourse, even if it is for the sole purpose of begetting children. D. G. Hunter,
“Augustine's Pessimism? A New Look at Augustine's Teaching on Sex, Marriage and Celibacy”, Augustinian
Studies 25, no. 1 (1994): 166-167. Brown believed that, through his published and spoken works, Augustine
actually tried to moderate the Church’s extreme views of his day. Brown, Augustine, 500. With this way of
thinking (i.e. that procreation is permissible), Augustine goes against his Manichaean past, since hearers, such as
Augustine was himself, were not allowed to procreate. Samuel N.C. Lieu, Manichaeism in the Later Roman
Empire and medieval China: A Historical Survey (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1985), 21. Robert
J. O’Connell, Images of Conversion in St. Augustine’s Confessions (New York: Fordham University Press,
1996), 47.
14
Augustine Marriage and Concupiscence 1.23.25. An excellent description of this phenomenon can
be found in Nico Vorster, “Calvin’s Modification of Augustine’s Doctrine of Original Sin”: “The original sin of
Adam is transmitted to subsequent generations through sexual concupiscence, since pro-creation cannot take
place without lust”. Nico Vorster, “Calvin’s Modification of Augustine’s Doctrine of Original Sin,” in Studies in
Reformed Theology, ed. H. van den Belt, vol. 23, Restoration through Redemption: John Calvin Revisited
(Leiden: Brill, 2013), 79. That this concupiscence was passed down from the genitals, can be found in
Augustine Sermon 151.5. This is also the interpretation of Peter Brown. Brown, Augustine, 391.
15
Augustine Marriage and Concupiscence 1.24.27.
 6

According to Augustine, this concupiscence formed a law of sin within these infants;

“Concupiscence, then, remains in the members of this body of death as the law of sin. It is

present in the little ones at birth.”16 This would inevitably lead infants to commit sins: “The

sinful flesh of those through whom they are born transmits to them a guilt which they have

not yet contracted in their own life.” 17 This idea of a genetic origin of the transmission of sin

was, in fact, unusual in the history of Patristic interpretation up until Augustine, as I have

explored in this paper.

Furthermore, according to Augustine, because of this stain of original sin, these

infants belong to the whole mass of humanity (massa damnata), which was under

condemnation and on its way to the lake of fire. The logical conclusion of this theory was that

deceased, unbaptized babies were damned to the lake of fire. 18 Because of original sin only, 19

they were part of the massa damnata: “Infants who perish because they die without baptism

(…) are kept bound by original sin alone, and for this alone they go into condemnation.”20

16
Ibid. Answer to the Pelagians 1.80.
17
Ibid. 1.118.
18
Ibid. Admonition and Grace 7.12. The same logical conclusion was taken by the unauthoritative
Latin addition to the answer to the question of original sin at the council of Carthage. See council of Carthage,
Latin Canon 110. Another logical conclusion, which can be made here as a side note is that because, according
to Augustine, “That it is not in our power to do that which is good is part of the deserts of original sin”
Augustine. To Simplician – On Various Questions 1.1.11., Cited from John H. S. Burleigh, Augustine: Earlier
Writings (Philadelphia, Westminster Press, 1953), 381. the concept of unconditional election follows. See Ibid.,
375 for another logical way of putting this.
19
It should be clarified that in Augustine’s mind, this original sin is voluntary, since it happened in
Adam. “What we call original sin in infants, who have not yet the use of free choice, may not absurdly also be
called voluntary, because it originated in man’s first evil will and has become in a manner hereditary.”
Augustine Retractations 1.13.5. Cited from Burleigh, Earlier Writings, 219. (emphases mine). This seems to
have been Augustine's way of trying to reconcile one of his early statements through which he defended free
will and moral responsibility against the Manichees - In this statement he admitted to God "that my mutable
substance had gone astray of free will, and erred as a punishment.” Augustine Confessions 4.15.26. - with a
statement defending inheriting original sin. Augustine wants to clarify that, according to him, inheriting original
sin is not incompatible with free will. He already made the same argument in his Commentary on Statements in
the Letter to the Romans. While defending free will (!), he wrote about sinful, fleshly concupiscence that “these
desires arise from the mortality of the flesh, which we bear from the first sin of the first man, whence we are
born fleshly.” Ibid., Commentary on Statements in the Letter to the Romans 12. Trans. P. Frederiksen Landes,
Augustine on Romans: Prepositions from the Epistle to the Romans, Unfinished Commentary on the Epistle to
the Romans (California: Scholar Press, 1982), 5-7. Read also Naoki Kamimura’s explanation of how Augustine
tries to defend the freedom of the will in this text in Naoki Kamimura, “Augustine’s Evolving Commentaries on
the Pauline Epistles,” The Theory and Practice of the Scriptural Exegesis in Augustine (March 2014): 65-67,
 7

Augustine claimed that the theory which denied the damnation of unbaptized infants

was, in his day, a recent invention of the Pelagians. He claimed that infant damnation was

accepted from the Church’s tradition, so much so, that it would have been redundant for him

to quote any sources to prove this matter.21 This will be examined to reveal that this is not the

case.

The critical issues of Augustine’s theology, i.e. concupiscence, massa damnata, and

the damnation of unbaptized infants, form the essential structure to defend his view of the

transmission of original sin. These points will now be discussed to reveal Augustine’s

possible sources and thereby serve to support the thesis of this paper that his sources were

based on Gnostic, Manichaean and Platonic thought.

accessed April 14, 2017, Academia. In the same line of thought, Lee states that according to Augustine: “The
vicious circle [of bondage to sin] begins as the soul voluntarily defects toward bodily pleasure.” Kam-lun Edwin
Lee, “Augustine, Manichaeism and the Good,” (PhD diss., Saint Paul University, 1996), 119. (Added text
between square brackets to clarify its context.) Notice also the similarity between Augustine’s text which we
have just cited and Plato and Plotinus’ concepts of humanity’s fallen state as having descended into a physical
body. (See footnotes 62 and 63, under the next section “Augustine’s Claims Explained”.)
20
Augustine The Gift of Perseverance 23. See also Ibid. Letter of Augustine to Vitalis, Layman of
Carthage 217.5.16. Ibid. The Soul and its Origin 3.9.12. Ibid. 4.11.16.
21
Ibid. Sermons 294.2. William A. Jurgens, The Faith of the Early Fathers, volume 3 (Minneapolis:
Liturgical Press, 1979), 32.
 8

II. AUGUSTINE’S CLAIMS EXAMINED

2.1. CONCUPISCENCE

2.1.1. Augustine’s Writings

According to Augustine, concupiscence was hereditarily passed on, because it was the

result of the original sin inherited from Adam, and could only be atoned for by water baptism.
“This concupiscence, I say, which is cleansed only by the sacrament of regeneration
[water baptism], does undoubtedly, by means of natural birth, pass on the bond of sin
to a man's posterity, unless they are themselves loosed from it by regeneration.” 22

“This concupiscence of the flesh is the daughter of sin, as it were, and, as often as it
consents to shameful deeds, it is the mother of more sins. Whatever offspring is born
of this concupiscence of the flesh is bound by original sin.”23

Augustine was not against marriage, and he believed that sexual intercourse for

procreation was legitimate.24 He believed that concupiscence was not sinful in and of itself25

but that it was the result of sin. 26 While it was not sinful, concupiscence was, nevertheless, an

evil. 27 It was God’s punishment on mankind for Adam’s “first disobedience”. 28

22
Augustine Marriage and Concupiscence 1.23.25. For the same idea of the cleansing effect of water
baptism: “The guilt of concupiscence is remitted in baptism.” Augustine Retractions 1.14.2.
23
Ibid., 1.24.27.
24
Ibid., 2.26.43. Lamberigts, “A critical evaluation,” 184.
25
Ibid.
26
Augustine Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 1.13.27. The concept that concupiscence is the result
of sin was also stated in Augustine Marriage and Concupiscence 1.24.27.
27
Ibid., Against Julian, Defender of the Pelagian Heresy 6.16.49. Makiko Sato, "The Role of Eve in
Salvation in Augustine's Interpretation of Genesis 3," in The Theory and Practice of the Scriptural Exegesis in
Augustine, Naoki Kamimura ed., 31. Research Report: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) 23520098, 2014.
28
Augustine City of God 14.17 and 14.23. Ibid., On the Literal Interpretation of Genesis 11.31.41-42.
 9

However, the question of Augustine’s sources for this theology occurs. Augustine, on

revising and explaining his work entitled the Free Choice of the Will, explicitly stated that the

Manichaeans did not believe in original sin. He wrote:

“This discussion must be regarded as directed against the Manichees, who do not
accept the Sacred Scriptures of the Old Testament,29 where original sin is recounted.
And these have the wicked effrontery to contend that whatever we read about original
sin in the Letters of the Apostles has been inserted by corrupters of the Scriptures, as
if it were something the Apostles never said.”30

This means that if Augustine’s words are to be believed in this instance, the

Manichees can be ruled out as a possible source from which the doctrine of original sin was

derived. It is disputed whether Augustine spoke the truth in this instance. Harry Conn claimed

that Augustine studied the philosophy of Manes and brought his views on original sin into the

church. 31 Whether H. Conn was aware of Augustine’s claim, I do not know but Ernesto

Bonaiuti stated in a similar fashion that in Augustine’s original sin doctrine, there were

remnants of Manicheanism. He thought that this was the case because of the similarity

between (1) the original sin of sexual concupiscence, (2) the idea that human nature is

inherently wrong and, (3) Augustine never totally agreed with the idea that the human soul

comes directly from God, instead of it being inherited from Adam. However, Bonaiuti

admitted that “these specific instances do not betray a direct Manichaean influence” but, he

continued, Augustine kept an overtly negative view on humanity. 32

29
That the Manichaeans denied the inspiration of the Old Testament Accounts, can also be found in
Pelagius’ Commentary on Romans. On Romans 1:2 Pelagius wrote: “(…) Indeed, this entire passage contradicts
the Manicheans, for in it he states that already beforehand the Gospel was promised both through God's prophets
and in the holy Scriptures; and that with regard to the flesh Christ was created from the line of David, that is, of
the virgin Mary, just as Isaiah foretold it (Isa. 7:14).” Theodore de Bruyn, Pelagius's Commentary On St. Paul's
Epistle to the Romans (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), 59.
30
Augustine Retractions 1.9.6. As cited from Robert P. Russell, The Fathers of the Church, Volume 59
(Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 1968), 241.
31
Harry Conn foreword to Holiness and Sin, by Gordon C. Olson (Texas: Men for Missions, 1971).
32
Ernesto Bonaiuti, “The Genesis of St. Augustine’s Idea of Original Sin,” The Harvard Theological
Review 10, no. 2 (April 1917): 174.
 10

This anthropological nuance of Augustine, pointed out by Bonaiuti, was not lost on

the Pelagians, as can be seen in that they labelled Augustine a Manichaean for his views on

the origin and necessity of sinning, long after he left that cult. 33 What is more, if Augustine

was right in that the Manichaeans denied the doctrine of original sin, this means that the

Manichaeans, who predated the Pelagians, were already denying original sin, before the

Pelagians appeared on scene (!). It should be noted that even in the Catholic Church, before

the Pelagian controversy, this “denial” of the concept of original sin - a denial of a theory

which might have already been present within extra-ecclesial sources,34 was already

present.35 Wiggers argues: “Now as the fathers before Augustine held to no guilt of the

Adamitic sin, they could not allow the forgiveness of a sin originating from Adam or Original

sin, as an object of infant baptism, just as, on the same ground, they could not admit the

condemnation of unbaptized children. They therefore differed from Augustine on this latter

point also.”36 In the next sections, I will show that it is far more likely that Augustine

received the concept of inheriting sin / sexual concupiscence from unorthodox, rather than

from orthodox, sources.

2.1.2. Early Christian Sources

33
Read, for example, Augustine Against Julian 4.42. Julian stated: “If the Ethiopian will change his
skin or the leopard its spots, only in that case you will be able to cleanse yourself from the Manichaean
mysteries”.
34
See under “Gnostic, Manichaean,… Sources”, under this same title (“Augustine’s Claims
Explained”).
35
Of course, this will be discussed in this dissertation.
36
Gustav Friedrich Wiggers, An Historical Presentation of Augustinism and Pelagianism (Texas:
OpenAirOutreach, 2011), 313. [This work was originally published in 1840 by Newman & Saxton (New York).
All page numberings of this book in this dissertation follow Morrell’s cheap paperback reprint.] For Wiggers’
entire argument, see Ibid., 299-326. On the same opinion concerning the Eastern fathers, see section 11-14 in
Ignazio Sanna et al., “International Theological Commission - The Hope of Salvation for Infants who Die
without Being Baptised,” Vatican, last modified January 19, 2007, accessed April 13, 2017,
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/cti_documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20070419_un-
baptised-infants_en.html.
 11

Augustine mentioned Cyprian († 258), together with Ambrose, most often of all

church fathers.37 The importance of Cyprian is that Augustine used him as a source for

defending his personal views on concupiscence.38 However, does this appeal to authority

hold up to close scrutiny?

According to Robin Lane Fox as well, Cyprian can be viewed as already defending a

concept of original sin.39 Fox points us to On the Dress of the Virgins chapter 23 and Epistle

64.5.40 Cyprian describes how God commanded man to go forth and multiply. He then states

that God advised mankind to be contingent.41 This contingency he describes as “cutting away

the desires of the flesh”. He seems to connect it to his following thought of baptismal

cleansing; the waters of baptism cleanse us “from the impurities of the old contagion by a

second birth”. Also in Epistle 64.5, Cyprian writes that such infants have inherited the

“contagion of the ancient death” but, contrary to Augustine’s views (!), he explicitly states

that such new-born infants have not yet sinned. Therefore, I can conclude that Cyprian was

not conceptualizing original sin. Rather, according to Cyprian, infants were contaminated

37
Vincent Hunink, “‘Practicing what he had taught: Augustine’s Sermons on Cyprian,” in Nag
Hammadi and Manichaean Studies, vol. 74, ‘In Search for Truth’: Augustine, Manichaeism and other
Gnosticism: Studies for Johannes van Oort at Sixty (Leiden: Brill, 2011), 97.
38
Augustine On the Sacraments 3.1.7 and Ibid. On the Mysteries 7.32.10.
39
Fox, Augustine, 37.
40
The following description is based on Cyprian’s The Dress of Virgins-text as found on “The Dress of
Virgins by St. Cyprian,” Today’s Catholic World, http://www.todayscatholicworld.com/dress-of-virgins.htm.
All excerpts are taken from that source. The excerpt of Epistle 64.5 is taken from Conversion, Catechumenate,
and Baptism in the Early Church, eds. Everett Ferguson, Paul Corby Finney and David Scholer (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1993), 38.
41
Contrary to Genesis 9:1, this duty of contingency seems to have been a common Gnostic/Platonist
opinion. On this, read footnotes 13 and 53. For more on the Jewish interpretation, read footnote 51. It must be
noted that Cyprian was a highly superstitious individual. Thomas Vincent Tymms, The Evolution of Infant
Baptism and Related Ideas (London: Kingsgate Press, 1913), 198-201. We will not further discuss this typically
Gnostic opinion in this footnote. We only state that there can be seen some obvious similarities between Cyprian
and Augustine’s views in regards to concupiscence. However, see footnote 46. (A republished version of
Tymms book can be accessed for free on my website: Thomas Vincent Tymms, The Evolution of Infant Baptism
and Related Ideas, eds. Douglas Duncan and Tom Torbeyns (Georgia-Vlaams-Brabant: Amazon, 2015), 172-
175, last modified January 1, 2015, accessed April 3, 2017,
https://crosstheology.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/evolution-of-infant-baptism-and-related-ideas-the-t-vincent-
tymms.pdf.)
 12

with physical death, as inherited from Adam. 42 This same argument is also applicable to the

spurious Hundredfold, Sixtyfold, Thirtyfold sermon. Augustine may have believed that this

sermon was from Cyprian’s hand. 43 The author of this spurious text stated that “the sin of our

first birth” was washed away in baptism.44 Its Latin translation also describes a necessary

struggle with concupiscence. 45 Along with the problem of an unknown author, it also may

sound very similar to Augustine's opinion that babies are born sinful, but, just like the

previously discussed writings, it does not state that guilt is inherited. It seems like Augustine

was trying to use Cyprian’s writings as a big proof for his newly invented, extreme cause of

inheriting original sin, rather than the older view of inheriting some sort of concupiscence. In

this regard, this text might have inspired Augustine to some extent but whatever amount of

reliability we have to ascribe to it, later on, we will look into another source which, very

probably, held a far bigger amount of inspiration for Augustine, concerning his views on

concupiscence and inheriting sin.46

42
That this was Cyprian’s intend is also the conclusion of Ferguson, Finney, Scholer and Pelikan. Ibid.,
38-39. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Development of Christian Doctrine: Some Historical Prolegomena (Chicago: Yale
University Press, 1969), 79-87. The opinion that an infant “inherits” physical death from Adam, is also in
agreement with the general opinion of the early Church fathers. Wiggers, Historical Presentation, 307-308. As
to how this mortality may have been connected to concupiscence, consider also the older Jewish view of the
yetser ra in footnote 51. In that footnote, notice the dissimilarity with Augustine’s new view of inheriting guilt!
43
For strong cases for different origins of that particular text, see: J. Daniélou, The Origins of Latin
Christianity (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1977), 63-92. Ibid., "Le Traité De Centesima, Sexagesima,
Tricesima et le Judéochristianisme Latin avant Tertullien," VC 25, no. 1 (1971): 171-181. Ronald E. Heine,
“The beginnings of Latin Christian Literature,” eds. F. Young et al., The Cambridge History of Early Christian
Literature (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), 131. A.P. Orbán, “Die Frage der ersten Zeugnisse
des Christenlateins,” VC 30, no. 1 (1976): 214-238.
44
Cyprian (?), De Centesima, Sexagesima, Tricesima, ed. R. Reitzenstein, repr. J.-P. Migne,
Patrologiae Cursus Completus, Series Latina, Supplementum, I, ed. A. Hamman (Paris: Éditions Garnier Frères,
1958), 54.5-7.
45
Ibid., 54.5-7;62.30; 63.1; 64.11. For more information on this sermon, see Daniélou, Latin
Christianity, 171-181.
46
Through this critical analysis I do not try to state that this text did not inspire Augustine. I merely
stated that there is a source, which we will mention later in this dissertation, which inspired Augustine to a far
greater extent, as this source shows way more similarities to Augustine’s views on concupiscence, than
Cyprian’s texts did.
 13

Ambrose of Milan, who was Augustine's mentor in the Catholic faith, made a

comment which might be taken as suggesting a concept of original sin: “Peter’s feet were

washed to take away his hereditary sins; for our own are taken away by baptism”.47 However,

according to William A. Jurgens, this was just a bad choice of words by Ambrose. 48 The

question is whether Ambrose’s words should be interpreted literally or whether the context

should be examined more closely. The context of these words does not seem to suggest a

belief in original sin. In the same line of thought, Ernesto Bonaiuti writes that he cannot find

any of the typical Augustinian dialectic regarding the consequences of original sin and

original sin in itself, with its strict materialism, when he looks at Ambrose’s loose

assumptions concerning the link between Adam’s descendants and his original sin. 49

Ambrose dealt symbolically with the traces of original sin in every participant by means of

water baptism.50 For Augustine’s switch from an allegorical to a literal interpretation, the

reader is referred to point 8 of Bonaiuti’s summarized argument, which he will find below. It

is not clear from where Ambrose received this symbolic ritual. Some have connected it to an

earlier Christian tradition, which was based on the Rabbinical concept of the yetser hara. 51

47
Ambrose The Mysteries 6.32.
48
William A. Jurgens, The Faith of the Early Fathers, volume 2 (Minneapolis: Liturgical Press, 1979),
175, ftn. 7.
49
Bonaiuti, “Original Sin,” 160-161.
50
Fox, Augustine, 37. Fox refers us to Augustine On the Sacraments 3.1.7. and Ibid., On the Mysteries
7.32.10.
51
This is understood to be an inborn inclination. Henry L. Novello, "The Nature of Evil in Jewish
Apocalyptic: The Need for 'Integral' Salvation," Colloquium 35, no. 1 (May 2003): 52, accessed May 5, 2017,
Ebscohost. Esther Gómez Herreruela, “James’ Theology of Sin and Evil in Relationship to the Jewish Concept
of the ‘Evil Inclination’” (Paper, Continental Theological Seminary, 2016), 6, 11. Also read her valuable
summary of the historical development of the yetser ra-theory in Ibid., 9-19. It should be noted that Augustine’s
concept of literally inheriting sin, rather than inheriting a sinful tendency, is certainly not equal to the concept of
the yetser ra, which “leads to sin but it is not itself sin” (!). Ibid., 12, 16. This would mean that Augustine’s idea
of literally inheriting sin is in plain contradiction with the earlier concept of inheriting a sinful tendency (yetser
ra). However, the Augustinian concept of concupiscence may have been influenced by a North-African or
European reinterpretation of the Jewish yetser ra-concept. For now, this will remain an interesting piece of
speculation as there has been no substantial studies on the North-African and European reinterpretations of such
Jewish concepts, as far as I am aware. However, it should be pointed out that, according to Talmudic literature
expert Ishay Rosen-Zvi, the earliest form of a sexual interpretation of the yetzer is found in the Babylonian
Talmud! For his full argument, read Ishay Rosen-Zvi, Demonic Desires: Yetzer Hara and the Problem of Evil in
 14

This Christian tradition held to the idea of washing away this yetser hara through the ritual of

infant baptism. 52 There is a need for research, as the scholarly world does not yet know

enough about the Jewish influence on the Christian tradition of the early North-African

church. 53

In a conversation with Augustine, bishop Evodius claimed that libido or passion

alone54 is the cause of every sin: “It is now clear that passion alone is the ruling factor in

every kind of wrongdoing.”55 This idea by Evodius was repeated multiple times in

Late Antiquity (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011), 102-119 and Ibid., “Sexualizing the Evil
Inclination: Rabbinic Yetzer and Modern Scholarship,” Journal of Jewish Studies 60, no. 2 (2009): 265, 269-
281. In this latter source, on pages 280-281, one can notice the similarity with various Gnostic/Platonic ascetic
concepts, in regards to the negative concept of sexual desire, and the desire to get rid of this, so that,
hypothetically, only procreation without sexual lust would remain. But notice especially that this ideal of
lustless procreation and man’s inability to reach this state in this life, are exactly like Augustine’s views (!),
since he “expected that, ideally, intercourse should take place only to conceive children.” Brown, Augustine,
392. Also read footnote 13. Could it be that Augustine (and the North-African church) somehow got indirectly
influenced by these Babylonian-Rabbinical views? As interesting as this remark may be, this would take my
essay too far. These earlier influences may be interesting to look at for my upcoming master thesis research. For
this Bachelor’s dissertation, I am only looking at the direct influences on Augustine’s view on concupiscence
(as indicated on page 2 and footnote 4) and which one of them will be the most probable direct influence on
Augustine’s development of his theology, in regards to this subject.
52
See Johannes van Oort, “Was Julian Right? A Re-Evaluation of Augustine’s and Mani’s Doctrines of
Sexual Concupiscence and the Transmission of Sin,” Journal of Early Christian History, no. 1-2 (2017): 17-18.
Ibid., Jerusalem and Babylon (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1991), 365-371. P.F. Beatrice, Tradux Peccati. Alle Fonti della
Dottrina Agostiniana del Peccato Originale (Milano: Vita e Pensiero, 1978). E. Peterson, Frühkirche, Judentum
und Gnosis (Rom-Freiburg-Wien: Herder, 1959), 221-235.
53
Beatrice, Tradux Peccati. van Oort, “Was Julian Right?,” 18. Against the idea of a massive Judeo-
Gnostic influence, we should note that A. Schremer points out that Jews living during the second Temple period
were not so much into practising sexual abstinence. This was a rather marginal phenomenon. A. Schremer,
“Celibacy,” in The Eerdmans Dictionary of Early Judaism, eds. J.J. Collins and D.C. Harlow (Cambridge:
Eerdmans, 2010) , 465-467. Schremer clearly points out to us that, in this regard, the common Jews formed a
clear distinction in practice from common Gnostic practices, which might have been practiced very seldomly
among the Jewish population.
54
In this context, these terms are the same as concupiscence; read the next footnote for more
information on this concept.
55
Augustine The Free Choice of the Will 1.3.8. Cited from Robert P. Russell, The Fathers of the
Church, Volume 59 (Washington D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 1968), 241. In the same
source, on the same page, Russell writes the following footnote, from which I believe it is correct to state that
the terms libido/passion indicate the same as concupiscence (for this dissertation): “Libido indicates the
disorderly and perverse tendency in man’s lower nature resulting from original sin and inclining him to evil.
(…)” He seems to have believed that Evodius was talking about Adam’s original concupiscence. Notice the
similarity between Evodius idea on this evil inclination, the possible Latin reinterpretation of the Rabbinic
concept of the yetser ra (see footnote 51), and Augustine's later opinion on concupiscence, as indicated in the
"Augustine's Claims" section of this essay.
 15

Augustine’s work on The Free Choice of the Will so it might be the case that Evodius was an

early influence on Augustine into Augustine’s developing idea that Adam’s concupiscence

was the origin of the sin of any of his descendants.56 Evodius tried to convince Augustine into

believing that, because of God’s absolute foreknowledge, man sins by necessity. Augustine

still disagreed, believing in foreknowledge, while holding that man was responsible for

sinning because he had some sort of a free will. 57

Due to all the previous references, I have seen that the concepts of an inclination to

sin and a negative view on concupiscence were probably already somewhat present in the

church before the time of Augustine. As Peter Brown hypothesized: “Many Catholics in

Africa and in ltaly already believed that the 'first sin' of Adam had somehow been inherited

by his descendants”.58 This does not mean, however, that this view originated among the

orthodox Christians. All previous remarks were not very convincing at all in regards to being

the original source for the concept of inheriting sinful, sexual concupiscence. 59 Was there a

theory present that resembled Augustine’s physical inheritance of the originator of sin? I will

look into different unorthodox views that were present before the time of Augustine, some of

which may have influenced his thinking. 60

56
Ibid., The Free Choice of the Will 1.3.8ff.
57
Howard R. Elseth, Did God Know? (Minnesota: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform,
2015), 41-43. For more information on Augustine’s opinion of how God’s absolute foreknowledge does not
negate human free will, read Lorenzo Dow McCabe, Divine Nescience of Future Contingencies (New York:
Phillips and Hunt, 1882), 150. For more information on Augustine’s concept of free will, in this debate, read
Edward Matusek, “The Problem of Evil in Augustine’s Confessions” (PhD. Diss., University of South Florida,
2011), 129-133. and Simon Harrison, “Do We Have A Will?: Augustine’s Way into the Will,” in The
Augustinian Tradition, ed. Gareth B. Matthews (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999), 201-202.
58
Brown, Augustine, 390. It is our opinion that a better phrasing would have been that some of the
fathers already believed that libido was passed down but, according to Wiggers, they did not speak about a
literal imputation of Adam’s original sin unto all of his descendants; a literal inheriting of Adam’s guilt.
Wiggers, Historical Presentation, 307.
59
I already indicated this thought while I was discussing the pseudo-Cyprian source.
60
Cyril of Alexandria, an orthodox Christian who lived during the time of Augustine, seems to have
made a connection between Adam and the lust of his descendants, as well. In his commentary on Romans he
wrote that we have a “nature which fell under the law of sin”; due to the disobedience of Adam, “impure
 16

2.1.3. Gnostic, Manichaean,… Sources

Augustine was a Neoplatonist61 and Plotinus was the father of Neoplatonism. We see

parallels as both Plotinus and Augustine expressed a negative view towards man and

concupiscence. According to Plotinus’ disciple Porphyry, Plotinus was ashamed of being

inside of his own body. 62 He described man, having descended from his original state, as “an

ugly Soul, dissolute, unrighteous: teeming with all the lusts”. Through ascension, man has to

try to reach his original state. One of the steps to do so is to “scour and purify himself and

pleasures crept in upon the nature of the flesh”. Here we can already see some similarity to Augustine’s ideas, as
Cyril of Alexandria writes about a law of sin, wrought by pleasures which have encroached upon our fallen
nature, from Adam onwards. Just like Augustine, he also believed that our human nature carries “impure
pleasures”, as a result of the fall, which are hereditarily passed on. However, Cyril denies inheriting culpability
for Adam’s sin, since his section on Romans 5:18 explicitly denies having “sinned along with Adam”. Therefore
he did not go as far as Augustine. There is no indication, as far as I am aware, that he influenced Augustine. All
quotes in this footnote are taken from Cyril of Alexandria Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans cited from
Philip Edward Pusey, Commentary on John, volume 3 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1872), 186. no index
numbers were given.
61
See Augustine Confessions 7.20. Matusek, “Problem of Evil,” 133.
62
Porphyry On the Life of Plotinus 1. A similar opinion can be found in Augustine Of True Religion
45.84.: “(…) In the very weakness of visible flesh, where no happy life can be (…)” and still later on in
Augustine Retractations 1.14.2.: “They have indeed put off the corruptible body which burdens the soul (…)”.
Both quotes are taken from Burleigh, Earlier Writings, 269, 285. Such quotes remind us also of Plato’s own
idea of the body “as the prison house of the soul”. Thomas M. Olshewsky, “On the Relations of Soul to Body in
Plato and Aristotle,” 1. http://web.stanford.edu/~mvr2j/ucsccourse/soulolshewsky.pdf. Or in the words of
Plato’s Phaedrus itself: “We are imprisoned in the body, like an oyster in his shell.” Benjamin Jowett, “Plato’s
Phaedrus,” 16. https://www.scribd.com/document/47455992/Phaedrus. This is confirmed by Matusek, “Problem
of Evil,” 134. Christopher Fisher, who has a deep knowledge of (neo-)Platonism, wrote that “the main purpose
of Platonism was to escape the body. The body was seen as evil.” Christopher Fisher, God is Open: Examining
the Open Theism of the Biblical Authors (South Dakota: Amazon, 2017), Kindle Locations 5118-5119, Kindle.
This was a common gnostic opinion. We can see similar remarks in other gnostic works, for example in the
Coptic text of Zostrianos we read: “You have not come to suffer; rather, you have come to escape your bondage.
Release yourselves, and that which has bound you will be nullified. Save yourselves, so that one [i.e. your soul]
may be saved”. John D. Turner in The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: the Revised and Updated Translation of
Sacred Gnostic Texts Complete in One Volume, ed. Marvin W. Meyer (The Netherlands: HarperOne, 2009), 583.
Although this goes beyond the scope of this paper, it is striking to notice that the Platonists believed the soul to
be like a fire, containing a divine particle of light, while the Manichees believed the body to be like a fire. As
with the Platonists, so with the Manichees, this body had light locked up inside of it. What might be more
useful for this study is that in both the Platonic as the Manichaean view, the soul is imprisoned in the despicable
body. In Augustine’s view as a Catholic, the body contained concupiscence. This was also the Manichaean view.
For a clear summary portraying the previously mentioned ideas of Platonism, one could read Kenneth E. Bailey,
Paul through Mediterranean Eyes: Cultural Studies in 1 Corinthians (London: SPCK, 2011), 464. For a clear
summary portraying the same ideas in Manichaeism and Augustine’s thoughts, the reader is pointed to van Oort,
“Was Julian Right?”, 8. On Plotinus, we can further notice that, according to Christopher Fisher, “Plotinus lived
as he preached. He disdained the flesh and earthly desires.” Fisher, God is Open, Kindle Location 5085.
 17

make himself what he was”.63 One can easily see how this view might have had an influence

on Augustine’s negative view of the result of Adam’s fall; the cause of forbidden, evil, lustful

concupiscence, which is inherited by his offspring.64

The similarities between Neoplatonist and Manichaean thought can now be explored.

Augustine was a Manichaean hearer before he became a Neoplatonist.65 The Manichaean

tradition, like Neoplatonism, also held to a negative view of the body and of concupiscence. 66

In his On the Nature of the Good, Augustine described the views of the Manichees and

attacked them in a criticizing way. Augustine wrote on the Manichaean interpretation of the

human body that “they say that Adam, the first man, was created by certain of the princes of

63
Plotinus Enneads 1.6.5. Plotinus described his views on reaching a higher state than the bodily state
repeatedly in different ways. For example: “To attain it is for those that will take the upward path, who will set
all their forces towards it, who will divest themselves of all that we have put on in our descent.” Ibid., 1.6.7.
Augustine used to see Adam’s fall in a very similar fashion. Later on he changed his view, believing that Adam
and Eve did have physical bodies of flesh and blood in the Garden of Eden. Brown, Augustine, 327. Brown
refers us to Augustine On Genesis against the Manichaeans 2.19.29. Augustine retracted his former opinion in
Ibid., Retractions 2.9.3. He also described his new opinion in Ibid., The City of God 14.26.16-22 and Ibid., On
the Gift of Perseverance 12.30. Of course, this will be elaborated on, later on in this essay. A side note can be
made in that, just like the Platonists (see the previous) and the Manichaeans, Augustine believed the evils of
mortality and wickedness to be present and inevitable in our bodies, as long as we were alive. Lee, “Augustine,”
205. So for Augustine, just like in Plotinus’ concepts (and the Platonist and Manichaean’s concepts), salvation
from our sins was equal to escaping from our physical bodies.
64
As another side note, this inheriting of concupiscence was also held, later on, in the East, by
Maximus the Confessor, who was strongly influenced by Neo-Platonism, as well. In his Questions to Thalassius,
he wrote to a Syrian ascetic saint that, because of Adam’s first transgression, concupiscence was passed on
through the sexual reproduction: “After the transgression, the pleasure of sexual reproduction naturally
preconditioned the births of all human beings, and no one was by nature free from birth subject to the passion
associated with this pleasure”. Maximus the Confessor Questions to Thalassius 61. This might give us some
kind of an indication that Augustine might have been influenced by Neo-Platonism when coming to his
conclusions on the nature of concupiscence.
65
Augustine Confessions 3.6.
66
According to Lee, Augustine’s concept of concupiscence was derived from the Manichaeans, as he
points out that “Augustine’s notion of concupiscentia indeed comes from his understanding of the Manichaean
doctrine of evil”. Lee, “Augustine,” 126. Recall the similar strong opinion of Harry Conn in Harry Conn
foreword to Holiness and Sin, by Gordon C. Olson. The influence on Mani’s views goes beyond the scope of
this dissertation, but for possible influences on Mani, concerning a negative view of everything that had to do
with sexual intercourse and marriage, see tenth century Muslim scholar Ibn An-Nadim. Ibn An-Nadim, Fihrist
al-'Ulūm. According to van Oort, the most probable influence was Mani’s father who joined a Christian
Encratite group and that group itself. J. van Oort, "‘Elkesaites’, Religion, Past and Present IV," (Leiden: Brill,
2008), 416. These Encratites should properly be described as a "Christian" Gnostic sect.
 18

darkness so that the light might not escape from them.” 67 Theology professor Johannes van

Oort observed the dualistic views of the Manichaeans generally as:

“In the realms of human unconsciousness, sexual passion churns and strives for
gratification: the flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit—the light-νοῦς—is held
captive in the sinful flesh, which consists of evil matter.”68
“The human body is ὕλη and the ὕλη is ἐπιθυμία, concupiscentia, evil desire and lust
(ἡδονή). This manifests itself in the sexual impulse, the libido. Sexual lust stirs up the
human person; it operates destructively like a devouring demon and strives for
gratification. Lust has its origin in the darkness of the unconscious or semi-conscious;
its aim is the conquest of the pure light of the consciousness.” 69

J. van Oort substantially concludes from Manichaean texts that they held to an

incredibly negative view towards the body. The Coptic Manichaean Homilies, for example,

state that “he who formed you is cursed” , 70 referring to the supposed body’s demonic

67
Augustine The Nature of the Good, 46. Cited from Burleigh, Earlier Writings, 346. A more
complicated but very useful description by Augustine can be found in his Confessions: “I, unfortunate one,
imagined there was I know not what substance of irrational life, and the nature of the chief evil, which should
not be a substance only, but real life also, and yet not emanating from You, O my God, from whom are all
things. And yet the first I called a Monad, as if it had been a soul without sex, but the other a Duad,— anger in
deeds of violence, in deeds of passion, lust—not knowing of what I talked. For I had not known or learned that
neither was evil a substance, nor our soul that chief and unchangeable good.” Augustine Confessions 4.15.24.
Cited from “The Confessions (Book IV),” New Advent, accessed April 5, 2017,
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/110104.htm. That which is to be noted here is that Augustine, as a hearer of
the Manichaeans, believed that evil was a substance, which was not created by God. As we saw right before, the
Manichees believed that this evil substance was created by the demonic.
68
J. van Oort, “Was Julian Right?” Journal of Early Christian History, 4-5.
69
Ibid. (emphases mine) Notice that Augustine took a step back from Jerome’s view and the
Manichaean view by not denouncing sexual activity within marriage, when it is done with the intended purpose
of begetting offspring. He did, however, agree with the Manichaean concept that concupiscentia is evil. See
footnote 13, under “Augustine’s Claims” for references that support this claim and read Marriage and
Concupiscence 2.26.43. To make an extension to the Manichaean view that a married person should denounce
sexual activity within marriage, we can state that the Coptic Manichaean Kephalia states that the true follower
of the Manichaean religion does not have sexual relationships with his wife. She is as a stranger to him.
Kephalia 228.22. According to a critic, just like Jerome who did not have a background in Manichaeism, the
Manichees believed in abstinence from marriage, sexual intercourse and procreation. Alexander of Lycopolis,
Contra Manichaei Opiniones Disputatio, ed. Alexander Brinkmann (Lipsiae: Teubner, 1895), 7. Alexander of
Lycopolis, who had a background in Platonism, lived approximately 20 years after Manes died and had personal
contact with Manichaean missionaries. J. van Oort, “Alexander of Lycopolis, Manichaeism and Neoplatonism”
in Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies, vol. 82, Gnosticism, Platonism and the Late Ancient World: Essays
in Honour of John D. Turner (Leiden: Brill, 2013), 275-283, accessed March 20, 2017,
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&an=637399.This makes
him a valuable witness.
70
Nils Arne Pedersen, Manichaean Homilies: with a Number of Hitherto Unpublished Fragments
(Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, 2006), 6.1-9. (emphasis mine)
 19

origin. 71 It even called the body and its lust cursed and condemned, and the fragmented text

seems to have claimed that the body was the cause for the author (of the text)’s weeping and

suffering torture.72 Furthermore, it can be observed that, according to the Manichaeans, a

demonic being had sown lust into the first male human’s body73 and the Manichaean Coptic

Psalm-Book elucidates that the lust of the body daily tricks its author.74 Such views were not

only present among the Manichees in Egypt but also among the Manichees in China. As

among the Egyptian Manichaeans, they believed also that a demon was responsible for being

the source of the human body’s concupiscence.75

The above evidence substantiates the fact that the Manichees understood libido /

concupiscence to be something of demonic origin, which was always evil and sinful, and, as

something over which no human being could have victory, since it was always fully present

in his / her very own body, being unconquerable. J. van Oort describes the Manichaean

understanding of sexuality in three summarizing concepts: (1) sexuality is considered to be

something negative, (2) sexual desire is the first sin and this sin is hereditary, as a punishment

for this first sin, (3) it dwells within matter, which is evil and which is part of the kingdom of

71
For more on the Manichaean concept of the body’s demonic origin, read, for example, Manfred
Hutter, Manis Kosmogonische Šābuhragān-Texte: Edition, Kommentar und Literaturgeschichtliche Einordnung
der Manichäisch-Mittelpersischen Handschriften m 98/99 i Und m 7980-7984 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1992),
84. and Friedrich Karl Andreas, Mitteliranische Manichaica Aus Chinesisch-Turkestan (Wiesbaden: Walter de
Gruyter, 1933), 194. For an English translation of the former source, read Hans-Joachim Klimkeit, Gnosis On
the Silk Road: Gnostic Texts from Central Asia (San Francisco: Harpercollins, 1993), 232.
72
Pedersen, Manichaean Homilies, 6.1-9. (emphasis mine) The reader can ask him/herself whether this
betrayed a Manichaean denial of the freedom of the will, as described by Augustine in Augustine Commentary
on the Letter to the Galatians 46.1. Read also Eric Plumer, Augustine’s Commentary on Galatians (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2003), 208. on Augustine’s rebuttal of the Manichaean denial of the freedom of the
will, in his [Augustine’s] Commentary on the Letter to the Galatians.
73
Hutter, Šābuhragān-Texte, 87-88. Translation: Klimkeit, Gnosis on the Silk Road, 233.
74
Psalm-Book 152,14-17. The reader might consider my thought that Augustine might have actually
sung such Psalms, hence brainwashing himself and influencing the way he would, later on, interpret the
Scriptures. Augustine Confessions 3.14; 10.49. Augustine mentions a Manichaean song in Ibid. Against Faustus
15.5.
75
Hymnscroll H 21a, 40d and 77d in E. Waldschmidt and W. Lentz, Die Stellung Jesu im
Manichäismus (Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1926), 101, 104, 110.
 20

darkness.76 Concerning the essence of these negative views on sex, I can state that one can

also see similarities in Augustine’s later writings as a Catholic theologian.77 This might be

why bishop Julian, Augustine’s nemesis, expressed the same convictions when he strongly

accused Augustine, in the sense that, according to him, Augustine was unable to cleanse

himself from “the Manichaean mysteries”. 78 However, what can be concluded concerning the

Manichaean influences on Augustine is that J. van Oort stated it well that “even striking

parallelism, does not necessarily imply a causal relationship” as Julian seemed to have

claimed. 79 In other words, at this point, the Manichaean influence on Augustine is nuanced

and not explicit. However, Gnosticism may also have affected Augustine.

When we look at specific Gnostic texts, it is evident there are some examples which

clarify the common tendency of a negative view towards sex, generally present within

Gnostic sects.80 It was not only present within Manichaeism. 81 First, consider Mani’s own

76
J. van Oort, “Was Julian Right?” Journal of Early Christian History, 9, 15.
77
This was also the conviction of the following scholars (this is not an exhaustive list): Ernesto
Bonaiuti. Bonaiuti, "Genesis of St. Augustine," 162. A. von Harnack. A. von Harnack, Lehrbuch der
Dogmengeschichte, volume 3 (Tübingen: Mohr, 1910), 211. A. Bruckner. A. Bruckner, Julian von Eclanum.
Sein Leben und seine Lehre (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1897), 66-68. W.H.C. Frend, The Rise of Christianity (London:
Darton, Longman & Tod, 1984), 679. K. Rudolph, Die Gnosis. Wesen und Geschichte einer spätantiken
Religion (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1977), 394, 414. A. Adam. A. Adam, Sprache und Dogma
(Gütersloh: Mohn, 1969), 141-166. L. Scheffczyk, Urstand, Fall und Erbsünde. Von der Schrift bis Augustinus
(Freiburg-Basel-Wien: Herder, 1981), 205. See also van Oort, Was Julian Right?, 15, for a very balanced, well-
weighed conclusion on the similarities between Augustine’s writings as a Catholic and the Manichaean
conclusions. For a quick comparison, compare the Manichaean views we just mentioned in the main body to
"Augustine’s Writings" under "Concupiscence" in this dissertation. Read especially the first page in which it
was clearly stated that Augustine believed that concupiscence is God’s punishment on mankind for Adam’s
“first disobedience”, as he clearly indicated in his City of God. The reader is strongly encouraged to do so, in
case he has no access to the previously referenced sources, as it might already strongly clarify why one cannot
help but sense a deep similarity between the Manichaean position on concupiscence and Augustine’s position on
the same, as a Catholic theologian.
78
As described by Augustine in Augustine Against Julian 4.42. Julian stated: “If the
Ethiopian will change his skin or the leopard its spots, only in that case you will be able to cleanse yourself from
the Manichaean mysteries”. See also van Oort, “Was Julian Right?,” 10.
79
Ibid., 15.
80
Some useful sources, clarifying this point would be: B. Thiering, “The Biblical Source of Qumran
Asceticism,” JBL 93 (1974): 429-444. Fredrick Fyvie Bruce, “Sectarian Asceticism,” Encyclopaedia Judaica,
vol. 3 (Jerusalem: Keter Publishing House, 1972), 680-681.
 21

retelling of Genesis, preserved by Muslim scholar Abu'l-Faraj Muhammad bin Is'hāq Al-

Nadim in his Kitāb al-Fihrist, in which Adam is forbidden to lust after Eve:
“Then Jesus came and spoke to the one who had been born, who was Adam. (…) He
also made him fear Eve, showing him how to suppress (desire) for her, and he forbade
him to approach her.”82

This source can be compared to the Revelation of Adam, a clear example of an early

non-Manichaean Gnostic text. The writer of this source held to a negative view of

concupiscence as well:
“I felt a sweet desire for your mother. The power of our eternal knowledge was gone
and weakness overtook us, and the days of our life became few. I realized I had come
under the authority of death.”83

In this “revelation”, Adam was forbidden to lust after Eve. Adam tells his son Seth

that he [Adam] failed in lusting after Eve. The consequence of Adam having lusted after Eve

was death. This death was described as being a spiritual death. It made Adam and Eve lose

the eternal knowledge of God and it made them appropriate the spiritually dead knowledge of

human beings: “After those days, the eternal knowledge of the God of truth left your mother

Eve and me, and from then on we learned about mortal things, like human beings.” 84

Substantially, in this work, the result of Adam feeling lustful towards Eve and having sexual

intercourse with her, was said to have brought forth death.

81
Consider also the footnote in which I described the influence of such Gnostic sects and concepts on
Mani and Mani’s father, according to Muslim scholar Ibn An-Nadim. This shows that such views on
concupiscence were already present in pseudo-Christian groups, long before Mani was born, let alone started his
own sect. It is possible that this broad umbrella of Gnosticism, which was very present in the cultures of
Augustine’s day, has influenced Augustine.
82
G. Flügel, Mani: Seine Lehre und seine Schriften (Osnabrück: Biblio Verlag, 1969), 58.11-61.13.
83
Marvin W. Meyer in Meyer, Nag Hammadi, 348. It should be noted that the context right before the
cited text has been lost.
84
Ibid., 347.
 22

According to Christopher Fisher,85 these texts may have had an influence on

Augustine’s views, who, holding to a figurative interpretation of Genesis, kept believing that

the original sin was Adam having sexual intercourse with Eve. This interpretation seems to

me to be rather spurious, as the part of Augustine’s writing on which Fisher comments, does

not literally state this.86 Rather, the inference is that the sin of disobedience was made

noticeable by the blushing and need to cover up only, but was not therefore the sex act.

A better example of an important pre-Augustinian text stating that because of Adam’s

sin, sexual desire and procreation came into existence, would be 2 Baruch 56:6: “(…) the

conception of children came about, the passion of the parents was produced”. Another

example would be the Revelation of Moses, which holds the idea that Adam’s sexual lust in

Paradise is the root of every evil in this world. Lust is described as “the poison of his

[Satan’s] wickedness” and “the root and beginning of every sin”. 87

85
For Christopher Fisher’s entire argument, read Christopher Fisher, “The Hellenization of
Christianity” (B.A. diss., University of South Dakota, 2006), 11-12.
86
The text by Augustine which Christopher Fisher quotes is: “For it was not fit that His creature should
blush at the work of his Creator; but by a just punishment the disobedience of the members was the retribution
to the disobedience of the first man, for which disobedience they blushed when they covered with fig-leaves
those shameful parts which previously were not shameful. Although, if those members by which sin was
committed were to be covered after the sin, men ought not indeed to have been clothed in tunics, but to have
covered their hand and mouth, because they sinned by taking and eating. What, then, is the meaning, when the
prohibited food was taken, and the transgression of the precept had been committed, of the look turned towards
those members? What unknown novelty is felt there, and compels itself to be noticed? And this is signified by
the opening of the eyes... As, therefore, they were so suddenly ashamed of their nakedness, which they were
daily in the habit of looking upon and were not confused, that they could now no longer bear those members
naked, but immediately took care to cover them; did not they--he in the open, she in the hidden impulse--
perceive those members to be disobedient to the choice of their will, which certainly they ought to have ruled
like the rest by their voluntary command? And this they deservedly suffered, because they themselves also were
not obedient to their Lord. Therefore they blushed that they in such wise had not manifested service to their
Creator, that they should deserve to lose dominion over those members by which children were to be
procreated.” (Italics his.) The point of Fisher’s argument does not flow from this text. See also Maximus
Questions to Thalassius 61. for a post-Augustinian interpretation of the first sin of Adam, which is not in line
with Christopher Fisher’s idea.
87
L.S.A. Wells, “The Books of Adam and Eve,” in The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old
Testament in English: Volume 2, ed. R.H. Charles (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913), 146. The end of the verse
states that “goodness vanished” but the author of this book does not necessarily hold to a concept of total
depravity, as he seems to indicate morally free will options in chapter 18 and chapter 54. While 56:6, which we
cited above, sounds very Augustinian, 54:19 sounds strikingly Pelagian: “(…) Adam is, therefore, not the cause,
except only for himself, but each of us has become our own Adam”.
 23

While looking into pre-Christian, Jewish texts, I came across Dr. Claus S.

Westermann. Westermann admits that there is a difference between church tradition and the

Bible, in that original sin cannot be found in Genesis 3. 88 Of course, what is more interesting

for this current research is that he believes that Augustine constructed his concept of original

sin from 4 Esdras 7:48:89 “O thou Adam, what hast thou done? for though it was thou that

sinned, thou art not fallen alone, but we all that come of thee.” 90

Westermann states that this verse depicts the Jewish teaching of the fall and original

sin [“erfzonde”].91 That this text holds to a doctrine of original sin is highly suspect. The Ezra

text only states “for though it was thou that sinned, thou art not fallen alone, but we all that

come of thee”. 92 This fragment does not say anything about inheriting sin. Moreover, the

immediate context of the quoted text describes the vanity of this life because of its

temporality. Therefore, it can easily be brought in agreement with the generally accepted

concept of the church fathers of humanity having been banned from the tree of life and hence

inheriting physical death. 93

But whatever the truth may be in Fisher’s statement, it must be stated that, in the

end,94 Augustine no longer believed that procreation would not have happened, should Adam
88
Claus S. Westermann, Hoofdlijnen van Een Theologie van Het Oude Testament (Kampen: Kok,
1981), 97-98.
89
Ibid. The original text has 4 Ezra 7:118 but this verse does not exist. It was an error.
90
2 Esdras 7:48. “Apocrypha: 2 Esdras Chapter 7,” Sacred Texts, accessed April 4, 2017,
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/apo/es2007.htm. 2 Esdras is the same as 4 Ezra.
91
Westermann, Theologie van Het Oude Testament, 97-98. The Dutch “erfzonde” can be transliterated
as “inheritance-sin”. In the Dutch language it implies a literal inheriting of sin.
92
Sacred Texts. “Apocrypha: 2 Esdras Chapter 7.”
93
For more information on this view of the fathers, see Wiggers, Historical Presentation, 307-308.
94
For Augustine’s older opinion that in the Garden of Eden, there was only a marriage without sexual
intercourse, read also Augustine On Genesis against the Manichees 1.20. (We previously referred to
Augustine’s Of True Religion.)
 24

and Eve not have sinned. In that regard, Augustine wrote, while revising one of his

statements in his Of True Religion:

“I completely disapprove of this notion (…). It leads to the conclusion that the first
pair would not have begotten offspring unless they had sinned, as if it were necessary
that the offspring of intercourse between man and woman should be born to die. I had
not yet seen that it was possible that children who would not die might be born of
parents who would not die, if human nature had not been changed for the worse by the
first great sin. In that case, if fertility and felicity remained both in parents and in
children, men would have been born who were destined, not to succeed parents who
die, but to reign with their parents in life (…)”95

Augustine also wrote a similar statement in his City of God, claiming sexual

intercourse would have had occurred in Paradise, had Adam not transgressed God’s

commandment:
“We speak of things which are now shameful, and although we try, as well as we are
able, to conceive them as they were before they became shameful, yet necessity
compels us rather to limit our discussion to the bounds set by modesty (…). For since
that which I have been speaking of was not experienced even by those who might
have experienced it—I mean our first parents (for sin and its merited banishment from
Paradise anticipated this passionless generation on their part)—when sexual
intercourse is spoken of now, it suggests to men's thoughts not such a placid
obedience to the will as is conceivable in our first parents, but such violent acting of
lust as they themselves have experienced. And therefore modesty shuts my mouth,
although my mind conceives the matter clearly.”96
Furthermore, the reader must be reminded that Augustine explicitly denied that the

Manichaeans believed in original sin. 97 Therefore, all previous remarks were not totally

convincing.

A strong argument for the origin of the concept of original sin has been made by

Ernesto Bonaiuti. An early source,98 which was later on used as a source of authority by

95
Augustine Retractions 1.13.8. Cited from Burleigh, Earlier Writings, 221.
96
Ibid., City of God 14.26. Cited from “The City of God (Book XIV)”, New Advent, accessed
February 12, 2017, http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/120114.htm. For similar statements on Augustine’s latter
opinion on the possibility of sexual activity within paradise, without the fall, see Lamberigts, “A critical
evaluation of critiques,” 184. Hunter, “Augustinian Pessimism?,” Augustinian Studies 25 (1994), 166-167.
97
As stated before, this can be found in Augustine Retractions 1.9.6.
 25

Augustine, containing the concept of sinning in Adam is “Ambrosiaster’s” Commentary on

Romans 5:12.99 The strongest possibility is that Augustine received his view on original sin

from this spurious “Ambrosiaster”100 document. This has been meticulously sourced by

Ernesto Bonaiuti in his the Genesis of St. Augustine’s Idea of Original Sin. Ernesto Bonaiuti’s

argument that the Ambrosiaster text is the most probable source is still the most valuable

argument till this day. I summarize his arguments in the following way:101

1. Augustine’s opinion on original sin could not have been taken from Ambrose’s
lose statements on a certain connection between Adam, in his original sin and
consequent fall, and the human race. 102

98
We do not know the origin of this “Ambrosiaster” document. Ernesto Bonaiuti labels him “the
unknown Roman commentator”. Bonaiuti, “Original Sin,” 173. (It is not clear why Bonaiuti thought the writer
of the Ambrosiaster document was a Roman. What he probably meant was that the writer wrote in Latin.) This
document might be, for example, a Gnostic document (!). Because of its spurious nature, we have put it under
the category of the “early gnostic, Christian,… sources”. However, Augustine himself claimed to have thought
that it was orthodox bishop Hillary of Potiers who wrote it. It might be that Augustine was again just making up
a tradition, when he stated - in referring to the interpretation of Paul being a carnal Christian in the Ambrosiaster
document - that Hillary, Gregory and Ambrose already held to the tradition of Paul being a carnal being, as a
Christian (Augustine Against Julian the Pelagian 6.23.70.). As we shall see further on in this dissertation,
Augustine does the same with the supposed orthodoxy of the denial of limbo. Of course there is no conclusive
evidence to state that he did this on purpose, so it is conjecture. However, as we shall see near the end of this
dissertation, he totally seems to make up an “orthodox” tradition of the denial of limbo, which goes against the
writings of Gregory of Nyssa and Gregory of Nazianzus. These writings form at least some support for this
conjecture and they clearly point out that Augustine’s claim for the authority of the orthodox tradition, was in
fact unorthodox.
99
I could not find any earlier Christian source containing the concept of sinning in Adam. This was
also the conclusion of Berthold Altaner, Patrology (New York: Herder & Herder, 1960), 458. Jurgens, The
Faith of the Early Fathers, volume 2, 179, ftn. 1. and Ernesto Bonaiuti. Bonaiuti, “Original Sin”, 161f.
Furthermore, the author of the “Ambrosiaster” source is spurious and is still up for debate. For the original Latin
manuscript see: http://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/02m/0339-
0397,_Ambrosius,_In_Epistolam_Beati_Pauli_Ad_Romanos,_MLT.pdf.
100
For studies on the authorship of the “Ambrosiaster” source, check out the following sources:
Alexander Souter, A Study of Ambrosiaster (Maine: HardPress Publishing, 2012). Joseph Nirschl, Lehrbuch der
Patrologie Und Patristik. (South Carolina: Nabu Press, 2013). Otto Bardenhewer, Patrologie (South Carolina:
Nabu Press, 2010). These indicate that Desiderius Erasmus was the first one to start questioning the Ambrosian
authorship of this document, in the sixteenth century. There is, however, an older source of doubt concerning the
Ambrosiaster authorship: F. Turrianus. An even older source of doubt is Flemish Franciscus Lucas Brugensis. J.
van Oort, “Notes on Calvin’s Knowledge, Use, and Misuse of the Church Fathers,” HTS Theologiese Studies 71,
no. 3 (September 2015): 7, accessed April 4, 2017, Academia. So far, the quest for its authorship has not been
solved conclusively.
101
Footnotes which include the page numbers of Bonaiuti’s document have been added to the
following summary. This might make it easier for the reader to follow this flow of thought.
102
Bonaiuti, “Original Sin,” 160-161.
 26

2. There are four reasons why Augustine derived his views on original sin from the
Ambrosiaster document:103
a. The description of how we sinned in Adam.
b. The similarities between their interpretations of Romans 5:12.
c. The rigid idea of every human being either a slave of sin or a slave of
grace.104
d. A literal interpretation of the Scriptures, which Augustine adopted under
the influence of this document.
3. Before 395, in his On the Freedom of the Will, Augustine used to claim that
original sin alone is not enough to damn an infant to the lake of fire 105 and he
changed from a view that the human race received physical bodies after the fall 106
to a view that human beings already had bodies but after the fall they received an
irredeemable corrupt, sinful nature.107
4. Augustine, after he read the Ambrosiaster file, in his reply to Simplicianus,
expressed his beliefs that original sin is a material substance which is propagated
through inheritance and that mankind is connected to Adam in his original sin and
consequent condemnation.108
5. From this document by Ambrosiaster comes the concept of “mankind as of a
people condemned”; the massa damnata109 in connection to the mistranslation of
the Romans 5 passage: “in whom all sinned”.110 Augustine directly quoted this
from Ambrosiaster.111
6. A comparison between Augustine’s development of his views on soteriology and
christology during the Pelagian controversy and how Ambrosiaster’s document

103
Ibid., 161.
104
See also Ibid., 172 for an in-depth explanation.
105
Bonaiuti refers to On the Freedom of the Will 3.66. Also compare Bonaiuti, “Original Sin”, 162 to
Augustine’s similar (but contradictory) remark that original sin alone is not enough to damn infants to the lake
of fire in Augustine Answer to the Pelagians 1, 80. By contradictory, I mean to say, as I wrote before that the
text we refer the reader to ‘seems to be a rather contradictory statement; on the one hand Augustine claims that
“it does not punish with damnation those who die before engaging in that combat”, while on the other hand he
states that “it holds unbaptised little ones enmeshed in guilt and draws them to damnation, like children to anger,
even if they die as little ones”.’
106
Augustine On Genesis against the Manichaeans 2.19.29. This fall into a human body sounds a lot
like Plotinus’s view on this matter. Brown, Augustine, 327. Plotinus Enneads, 1.6.5,7. On Plato’s and Origen’s
similar view, read Peter W. Martens, “Embodiment, Heresy, and the Hellenization of Christianity: The Descent
of the Soul in Plato and Origen” in Harvard Theological Review: 617. See also Ambrose Hexaemeron 6.7.42 for
another, more positive view by Ambrose on the relationship between body and soul.
107
Bonaiuti, “Original Sin,” 161-162. Augustine retracted his former opinion in Ibid., Retractions 2.9.3.
He also described his new opinion in Ibid., The City of God 14.26.16-22 and Ibid. On the Gift of Perseverance
12.30.
108
Bonaiuti, “Original Sin,” 163.
109
Ibid., 164. See also Jurgens, The Faith of the Early Fathers, volume 2, 179, ftn. 3. for a more
reluctant but similar conclusion.
110
Bonaiuti, 167.
111
Ibid., 168.
 27

describes the same issues show that Augustine based his view on Ambrosiaster’s,
indicating the strong similarity. 112
7. He constantly used “Hillary” (i.e. this document) as a source to base his
authority. 113
8. Augustine moved from the allegorical interpretations of Origen and Ambrose to a
literal interpretation through the influence of Ambrosiaster.114

Whatever the case, and whatever specific conclusions result, it cannot be denied that

Augustine and his Catholic predecessors were surrounded by, and eventually influenced by,

Gnostic teachings.115 We have seen that it is certainly a possibility that Augustine received

his negative views on concupiscence directly from his Manichaean and Neoplatonic sources

or from his predecessors, who were influenced by views which originated outside of the pure

Church tradition. The significance from the understanding of Augustine’s background of

defining original sin as a hereditary result of concupiscence answers the question of his

unique theology. It was not a received interpretation of the early church fathers but rather a

result of non-Christian sources. This is confirmed by Augustine’s treatment of unbaptized

infants as being part of the massa damnata on its way to the lake of fire.

2.2. MASSA DAMNATA

2.2.1. Augustine’s Writings

Augustine believed that because all descendants of Adam inherit

concupiscence, they are sinners by nature; they are, in fact, all part of one big lump of sinners.

Donato Ogliari described it in a clear manner: “Augustine was adamant in asserting universal
112
Ibid., 170. Bonaiuti stated clearly that “The words of Augustine are the true echo of Ambrosiaster.”
Ibid., 171.
113
Ibid., 170.
114
Ibid., 175. See also Ibid., 173 for some more information on this point.
115
Elaborating on this point would take us off topic. A good starting point, to find out how Gnosticism
and Platonism was already accepted in the early Church, is Christopher Fisher’s “The Hellenization of
Christianity”.
 28

sinfulness: all human beings, as a result of the fall, make up the massa damnata in that they

inherit Adam’s guilt – in the sense that they actually share his responsibility.”116 or as John H.

S. Burleigh paraphrased Augustine’s thought: “All men are made of one lump, a massa

peccati [a mass of sin], and some [men] are to be saved, others are to be lost.”117 And in the

words of Augustine himself: “But carnal concupiscence now reigns as a result of the penalty

of [original] sin, and has thrown the whole human race into confusion, making of it one lump

in which the original guilt remains throughout.”118 This massa damnata-concept is therefore a

logical result of a theory of hereditary sin. Is there evidence of this aspect in early Christian

works?

2.2.2. Early Christian Sources

We have seen in the “Concupiscence” section that Ernesto Bonaiuti showed that in all

probability, Augustine received this massa damnata-concept from the spurious

“Ambrosiaster” document and that even among the quotes of the orthodox fathers, and the

earlier Jewish Ezra fragment seemingly agreeing with a notion of original sin, there is no

literal inheriting of sin. If there is no inheriting of the original sin from Adam, it cannot be

said of Adam’s descendants that they have been born as part of an Adamite lump of doomed

sinners. But is there perhaps, contrary to logic, yet substantial evidence for the massa

116
Donato Ogliari, "Freedom and Necessity: St. Augustine's Teaching on Divine Power and Human
Freedom.(Book Review)," The Catholic Historical Review 96, no. 1 (2010): 92, accessed March 27, 2017,
http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=25fa187e-dbe3-447b-80f7-
14788474f29c%40sessionmgr120&vid=1&hid=128.
117
Burleigh, Earlier Writings, 375. First emphasis mine. The translation between the first square
brackets and the addition between the second square brackets are also mine. The addition is meant as a means of
clarifying Burleigh’s intent.
118
Augustine To Simplician – On Various Questions, 2.2.20. Cited from Burleigh, Earlier Writings,
404. Emphases mine. Added “original” between brackets as a contextual clarification. See also Augustine To
Simplician – On Various Questions, 1.16. This section also describes “the conception of mankind as of a people
condemned”, according to Bonaiuti, Original Sin, 164.
 29

damnata concept within the catholic Church before the time of Augustine? On the contrary,

there are many sources among early Catholic Christians that are contrary to Augustine’s

massa damnata-claim. The following early Christian sources establish the earliest Church’s

understanding which goes against the concept of a physical inheritance of sin and,

consequently, goes against the massa damnata-idea:

In his longer version of his Epistle to the Magnesians, Ignatius († 108) clarified his

opinion on the difference between one who has an obedient character and the other who has a

disobedient, twisted character. His clarification ran as follows: “I do not mean to say that

there are two different human natures, but that there is one humanity, sometimes belonging to

God, and sometimes to the devil. If anyone is truly religious, he is a man of God; but if he is

irreligious, he is a man of the devil, made such, not by nature, but by his own choice.”119 His

clarification was a necessity against the Gnostics who commonly held, in his day, that

mankind is made up out of a good and a bad nature; one person being good, the other person

being evil, by nature and not by choice.120 In this statement, Ignatius explained that in his

mind there is no such thing as being automatically a sinner by nature / birth. According to

Ignatius, a moral character is formed by one’s own choice(s). Therefore we can extrapolate

from Ignatius writings that, in his opinion, there is no possibility for being birthed as part of a

mass of sinners, within orthodox Christianity. 121 Note that Ignatius lived in the first century,

the century in which the Lord Jesus Christ and His apostle lived (!).

Justin Martyr († 165 CE) lived right after the time of Ignatius (second century). Justin

was known as the first apologist for the Christian faith. He wrote that “if a man were created

evil, he would not deserve punishment, since he was not evil of himself, being unable to do
119
Ignatius To the Magnesians 5 (Longer version). Emphasis mine.
120
Lyman Beecher, Views in Theology (Cincinnati: Truman and Smith, 1836), 54-57. Also pay close
attention to the following church father quotes, which will suffice to proof Beecher’s claim.
121
See also Ibid., 57. on this concept of orthodoxy.
 30

anything else than what he was made for.”122 Hence, in Justin Martyr’s mind, the idea of

being a wicked sinner from birth is absent. He reiterates this in clearer evidence of his

opinion on this matter: “God has not made man like trees and beasts without the power of

election; for he that has no hand in making himself good or bad, but is born so ready made, is

no proper subject for the distributions of justice, for neither the good nor the evil are such by

themselves but only as they are formed by the hand of destiny.”123 Justin Martyr is stating

here that a moral nature, whether good or bad, is acquired over time, during an individual’s

life. It is not given to the individual at birth. Hence, Justin Martyr’s statement is contrary to

Augustine’s massa damnata-theory.

Irenaeus († 202), who was a contemporary of Justin Martyr, was a well-respected

bishop within Christian orthodoxy. In his fourth book which was written against various

heresies, he wrote:
“If some had been made by nature bad, and others good, these latter would not be
deserving of praise for being good, for they were created that way, nor would the
former be reprehensible, for that is how they were made. However, all men are of the
same nature. They are all able to hold fast and to do what is good. On the other hand,
they have the power to cast good from them and not to do it.”124

Irenaeus was clearly expressing the opinion that every man is born with a neutral slate and

not as a tainted, wicked sinner partaking of the massa damnata.

So far we have only looked at patristic sources from the first and second century, as

they are crucial for the Church’s tradition. 125 However, for our discussion on Augustine,
122
Justin Martyr First Apology 43. For a similar post-Augustinian remark, read Methodius Banquet of
the Ten Virgins 8.16.
123
Justin Martyr First Apology 43.
124
Irenaeus Against Heresies 4.37.2. In this chapter, Irenaeus tries to defend the freedom of the will
and because we have a free will, he argues, therefore our nature cannot be sinful or upright by inborn necessity.
125
Since they are at the basis of Church tradition. According to the Ad Fontes-principle, which is
commonly attributed to Desiderius Erasmus, more weight should be given to the earliest of church father quotes.
Many of these early voices of the church were direct disciples of the disciples of Jesus Christ. These early
Christians seem to have been part of a far less deluded Church, which was still fighting against heresies and
keeping many of these outside of the doors of the Church.
 31

concerning the orthodoxy of massa damnata, perhaps the clearest example is found in the

words of John Chrysostom († 407), who was a contemporary of Augustine: “That one man

should be punished on account of another does not seem to be much in accordance with

reason. (…) For the fact that when he [Adam] had sinned and become mortal, those who were

of him should be so also, is nothing unlikely. But how would it follow that from his

disobedience another would become a sinner?”126 This statement indicates that John

Chrysostom held to the common belief that physical death is a consequence of Adam’s

transgression127 but he repeated his conviction again and again, that, while we are born

mortals, this does not mean that we are born sinners. So, in Chrysostom’s mind, there was no

such thing as humanity being a mass of sinners. 128

Therefore we can conclude that since there is not a single undisputedly orthodox

Christian before the time of Augustine who supports his claim of massa damnata, the origin

of this theory, within the orthodox Church, is with Augustine.129 This concept was either

invented by him or he brought it into the catholic Church. In this regard we also have no

evidence whatsoever of this exact concept (i.e. the massa damnata) existing within any form

of Gnosticism. Hence, the idea that Augustine brought this doctrine into the church from a

126
John Chrysostom Homilies on Romans 10. I added “Adam” between square brackets for
clarification.
127
Again, read Wiggers, Historical Presentation, 307-308.
128
This also runs contrary to Augustine’s extrapolation of Chrysostom’s words in his Homily to
Neophytes; according to Augustine, Chrysostom did not mean that infants have no sin but he meant that they
have not committed any personal sins. Augustine Against Julian 1.6.21-22. Jeffrey J. Meyers, “Babies, Baptism
and Original Sin: Augustine’s Understanding of the Theological Implications of Infant Baptism,” 3-4, ftn. 6,
accessed April 30, 2017,
http://www.google.be/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwi9ztO
U6czTAhVKJVAKHQekAZcQFggiMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic1.1.sqspcdn.com%2Fstatic%2Ff%2F33
9200%2F4429484%2F1255462202960%2F004Augustine_baptism_paper.pdf.
129
If the reader still has doubts about this claim, he can read Wiggers’ summary on this subject, as
found in chapter 22, I. entitled “Opinions of the Fathers before Augustine, concerning Original Sin and the
Doctrines more immediately connected with it”, in his book Wiggers, Historical Presentation, 299-326.
 32

Gnostic group can be ruled out, but, as we shall see, we have some indication that some

Gnostic ideas inspired him to form this doctrine.

2.2.3. Manichaean Influence

The most probable source for the theory of massa damnata that I have been able to

trace is Manichaeism. Within Manicheism, traces are evident which might have led to

Augustine coming to believe in the concept of massa damnata. In this dissertation we already

saw how, according to the Manichees, the body had a demonic origin. 130 To be more precise,

according to Manichaean tradition, feminine demon Āz created the first human pair.131 Into

the first male’s body, demon Āz “sowed desire and lust, covetousness and [the urge to]

mate.”132 From there onwards, this human pair, through the act of procreation, spawned other

human beings who had the same evil lusts present within their human bodies. 133 The

similarity between this Manichaean tradition of the hereditariness of sexual concupiscence,

from the first human beings, and Augustine’s idea of the massa damnata, inherited from the

first human beings, has led some to come to logically believe that Augustine’s idea of the

massa damnata was derived from the Manichaeism of Augustine’s past.134

130
See page 15 under “Gnostic, Manichaean,… Sources” under “Concupiscence”. As stated before: for
more on the Manichaean concept of the body’s demonic origin, read, for example, Manfred Hutter, Manis
Kosmogonische Šābuhragān-Texte: Edition, Kommentar und Literaturgeschichtliche Einordnung der
Manichäisch-Mittelpersischen Handschriften m 98/99 i Und m 7980-7984 (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1992), 84.
and Friedrich Karl Andreas, Mitteliranische Manichaica Aus Chinesisch-Turkestan (Wiesbaden: Walter de
Gruyter, 1933), 194. For an English translation of the former source, read Hans-Joachim Klimkeit, Gnosis On
the Silk Road: Gnostic Texts from Central Asia (San Francisco: Harpercollins, 1993), 232.
131
H.-J. Klimkeit, Gnosis on the Silk Road (San Francisco: Harper, 1993), 232.
132
Ibid., 233.
133
Augustine The Nature of the Good 46. Hutter, Šābuhragān-Texte, 87-88. As we saw before,
according to the Manichaean philosophies, it was the demons’ strategy that humanity would populate so that the
light would be further spreaded out among them so that the kingdom of light would never be able to recuperate
that light.
134
See also Augustine Marriage and Concupiscence 1, 23, 25. Ibid., 1, 24, 27. Notice that this seems
to have been a clear relapse into a Manichaean concept, since, in his early days of being a Catholic, Augustine
wrote in his Confessions that he repented of his Manichaean past in that he believed that evil, lustful passions
were in the body, as a substance (Augustine Confessions 4.15.24.) and that he did not believe in free will; “[I did
not] admit that my mutable substance had gone astray of free will, and erred as a punishment.” Ibid.,
 33

An understanding as to how Augustine’s Manichaean past influenced his massa

damnata-concept might be his parable on God’s separation of the water and the dry land

(Genesis 1:9), as found in his Confessions. 135 In this regard, Lee states:
‘The massa damnata whose lust is symbolized by the unruliness of the sea is being
contained in order that life may grow in the elect, which is prefigured by the “dry
land.” The notion of cosmic order is actually the framework of Augustine’s doctrine
of predestination, and is his response to the Manichaean view of the universe as a
mixture of good and evil.’136

This might possibly indicate that, firstly, God makes the mass of sinners, as the raging

sea (as indicated in 13.17.20) and, secondly, He separates His elect from this raging sea (as

indicated in 13.17.21). In favour of this theory, we know that Augustine had already indicated

in his Confessions that he believes that all men are born sinners. 137 Hence, Augustine already

believed that, initially upon birth, all are part of the mass which is doomed from the womb. 138

Confessions 4.15.26. (Added the text between square brackets, as a means of clarifying the text.) Furthermore, it
will most probably be of interest to the reader that, through another way, we can point to Augustine as having
relapsed to some extent, in that he went back from taking personal responsibility for his sin of sexual
concupiscence, to blaming another nature which sinned in him, just as the Manichaean teachings encouraged
him to do. Ibid., 5.10.18. Matusek, “Problem of Evil,” 99-101. (Compare our latest remark with Augustine’s
latter teaching on concupiscence, as described in the earlier parts of this dissertation.) Augustine saw already,
early on, that such a concept provided the sinner with ample excuses. In this regard, Augustine wrote in regards
to Manichees: “(…) you still maintain that the mixture of a little evil prevailed over the superior force and
quantity of good. Who that believes this, when incited by passion, will not find here an excuse, instead of
checking and controlling his passion?” Augustine On the Morals of the Manichaeans 19.73. As Matusek put it:
“Augustine clearly could draw from his own past concerning how Manichean teachings could lead to an
abdication of moral responsibility.” Matusek, “Problem of Evil,” 105. In this footnote, we can conclude that the
younger Augustine understood the negative influence of determinism on morality. One can certainly make some
connection, at least, between the determinism of the Manichees and the determinism of Augustine’s massa
damnata-theory. This can be defined as a relapse in Augustine’s mind, concerning the concepts we have just
described.
135
Ibid., Confessions 13.17.20-21. That this parable gives us a hint of Augustine’s Manichaean past
influencing his massa damnata concept is Lee’s opinion. Lee, “Augustine,” 144.
136
Ibid.
137
Augustine Confessions 7.
138
On the Manichaean notion that “the whole creation became enslaved forever, from the foundation of
the world until now”, beginning with Adam, see also M. Waldstein and F. Wisse, The Apocryphon of John:
Synopsis of Nag Hammadi Codices Ii,1; Iii,1; and Iv,1 with Bg 8502,2 (Leiden: Brill Academic Pub, 1995), 167.
There is an obvious similarity between this view and Augustine’s massa damnata view, in which all mankind is
born doomed, from Adam onwards.
 34

In summary, the influence of Manichaeanism suggests the strongest indicator of

Augustine’s massa damnata-theory.

It is noted that some, like Johannes van Oort, initially pointed out that the source of

massa damnata may lie as well in some Jewish-Christian ascetic tradition. 139 However, J. van

Oort became far less hesitant to point to the source of Augustine’s massa damnata as being

Manichaean. 140 And, in the end, he was firmly convinced that Augustine derived his massa

damnata-concept from his Manichaean education. 141 J. van Oort also noticed that he was not

the only one to have come to this conclusion but that many other theological scholars have

also come to the same conclusion.142 Therefore, it can be substantially concluded that

Augustine’s massa damnata-theory evolved directly from the influence of Manichaean

teachings on his life. This is further substantiated with the examination of Augustine’s view

of the damnation of unbaptized infants and his denial of limbo.

139
Johannes van Oort, “Augustine and Mani on Concupiscentia Sexualis,” in Augustiniana Traiectina.
Communications présentées au Colloque International d’Utrecht, 13-14 novembre 1986, ed. J. den Boeft (Paris:
Études Augustiniennnes, 1987), 151–152.
140
J. van Oort, “Augustine on Sexual Concupiscence and Original Sin,” in Studia Patristica XXII, ed. E.
A. Livingstone (Louvain: Peeters, 1989), 385-386.
141
A good summary of this evolution of van Oort’s ideas can be found in Paul Rhodes Eddy, “Can a
Leopard Change its Spots? Augustine and the Crypto-Manichaeism Question,” Scottish Journal of Theology 62,
no. 3 (August 2009): 335. Before van Oort came to the point of certainty, we already see Lee commenting on
van Oort’s idea that Augustine’s concept of concupiscence was derived from the Manichees as he points out that
“Augustine’s notion of concupiscentia indeed comes from his understanding of the Manichaean doctrine of evil”.
Lee, “Augustine,” 126. We can only wonder whether this confirmation gave J. van Oort more certainty to
describe Augustine’s massa damnata-concept as being Manichaean.
142
Eddy, “Leopard”: 335. This article points out as well that the same transmission from doubt to
“personal” certainty – theology is not an exact science -, in regards to Augustine’s origins for his massa
damnata theory, as having been derived from Manichaeism, has also been made by Mathijs Lamberichts and
Kevin Coyle. For exact sources concerning Lamberichts and Coyle’s evolution, see Ibid., 336. J. van Oort also
refers to Sinnige and Frend but I was personally unable to trace back some of these four previously mentioned
sources. As far as I am familiar with van Oort’s works, he seems to be a very honest and able scholar. J. van
Oort, furthermore, stated that Ernesto Buonaiuti believed as well that Augustine's concept of massa perditionis -
i.e. the lost part in the massa damnata theory - is derived from his Manichaeism from his past. He refers us to
Ernesto Bonaiuti, ‘Manichaeism and Augustine's Idea of “Massa Perditionis”,’ HTR 20 (1927): 117–127. It is in
this context that van Oort referred to Sinnige and Frend as making the same definite statements [concerning the
origin of Augustine’s massa damnata concept]. Read also “Manichaeism: Its Sources and Influences on Western
Christianity,” in Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times, eds. Roelof van den Broek and
Wouter J. Hanegraff (New York: SUNY, 1998), 46–47. J. van Oort, “New Light on Christian Gnosis,” Louvain
Studies 24 (1999): 38.
 35

2.3. LIMBO143

2.3.1. Augustine’s Writings

We have seen that Augustine’s views on Concupiscence and Massa Damnata are

under high suspicion of whether they were in fact in line with the orthodox tradition. Now we

will examine the truthfulness of his claim on the unorthodoxy of the Pelagian view on limbo.

For practical reasons we will repeat Augustine’s claim. Augustine’s claim was that infant

damnation was accepted from the Church’s tradition, so much so, that it would have been

redundant for him to quote any sources to prove this matter.144

It should also be noted that Augustine changed his view (!). Before the Pelagian

controversy, regarding unbaptized deceased infants, he stated:

“It is idly superfluous to inquire about the merits of one who has done nothing to
merit anything. There is no need to fear lest there be a life lived which is neither
righteous nor sinful, nor that the judge will be able to pronounce sentence involving
neither reward nor punishment.”145

143
Note that we are not looking into whether limbo was brought into the Church’s tradition in a pre-
Augustinian point in time. We are only investigating whether Augustine’s claims, that limbo was an invention
by the Pelagians and that the Church tradition clearly denied for the possibility of limbo, are credible.
144
Augustine Sermons 294.2. Taken from Jurgens, Early Fathers, volume 3, 32. It might be the case
that Augustine’s opinion was based on the North-African, eschatological opinion that, through water baptism,
parents as well as infants, would become part of Christ’s new world order; they were in danger of being
condemned, as not being part of that new order. Ferguson et al., Conversion, 37-38. Joachim Jeremias, Infant
Baptism in the First Four Centuries (Chicago: Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2004), 23. But, note that this was
Augustine’s latter (!) opinion. See the following part of the main text for telling information.
145
Augustine On Free Will 3.23.66. Cited from Burleigh, Earlier Writings, 210-211. On this passage
Ernesto Bonaiuti stated that Augustine claimed that “He [Augustine] insinuates, in a rather indefinite way, that
original sin alone is not a sufficient cause for a man, otherwise innocent, to be condemned forever.” Bonaiuti,
Original Sin, 162. Augustine clearly stated a rather similar opinion in Augustine Marriage and Concupiscence 1,
23, 25 and Ibid., 1, 24, 27. And he stated a similar opinion when he wrote that “Concupiscence, then, remains in
the members of this body of death as the law of sin. It is present in the little ones at birth, though its guilt is
removed when little ones are baptised. It remains for the combat, but it does not punish with damnation those
who die before engaging in that combat. It holds unbaptised little ones enmeshed in guilt and draws them to
damnation, like children of anger, even if they die as little ones.” Augustine Answer to the Pelagians 1, 80. This
seems to be a rather contradictory statement; on the one hand Augustine claims that “it does not punish with
damnation those who die before engaging in that combat”, while on the other hand he states that “it holds
unbaptised little ones enmeshed in guilt and draws them to damnation, like children to anger, even if they die as
little ones”.
 36

This would already refute Augustine’s own claim, as it would show that either

Augustine himself invented the idea of a “neutral sentence”, that he received this concept

from the Gnostics, or that it originated in the church from one of his predecessors who

invented this idea and who was himself influenced by certain forms of Gnosticism.

In On Free Will, Augustine himself wrote about an early church tradition, which can

be regarded as a source on an early church opinion on the destiny of at least certain

unbaptized infants:
“Who knows what good compensation God has reserved in the secrecy of his
judgments for the children themselves, though they have not had the chance of living
righteously, at least have committed no sin and yet have suffered? Not for nothing
does the Church commend for honour as martyrs the children who were slain by the
orders of Herod when he sought to slay the Lord Jesus Christ.”146

In addition, Augustine refers to the following part of the liturgical tradition:

“Bethlehem, do not be sad, but be of good heart at the killing of the holy infants, because

they were offered as perfect victims to Christ the King: having been sacrificed on account of

him, they will reign with him”. 147

Simply stated, did Augustine move from a view on limbo which was not compatible

with early Christian sources, to the orthodox viewpoint? Or was it the other way around? In

other words, is it true that the pre-Augustinian, Christian tradition kept no space for a concept

of limbo? Or was there, within the church, a certain space for leeway on this particular issue?

In the next section, early Christian sources are cited in Augustine’s own works and in

different works.

146
Augustine On Free Will 3.23.68. Cited from Burleigh, Earlier Writings, 211. This was also recently
noticed by the Vatican’s International Theological Council. Read section 5 of Sanna et al., “Hope of Salvation
for Infants,” Vatican.
147
See “Exapostilarion of Matins in the Byzantine Liturgy” in Anthologion di tutto l’anno, vol. 1
(Rome: Edizione Lipa, 1999), 1199.
 37

2.3.2. Early Sources

The earliest Christian source, in regards to a supposed denial of limbo, which is often

misquoted, is Pope Siricius († 399). An example of this is that Pope Siricius is claimed to

have ‘insisted on the baptism of infants as well as adults lest "each one of them on leaving the

world, loses both [eternal] life and the kingdom."’148 This is a misquote because the context

of this partial sentence indicates that Pope Siricius was describing people who have the desire

to be baptised. He was not singling out unbaptized infants and as he spoke the following

words, he very probably had adults in mind: “(…) lest it should lead to the destruction of our

souls if, by refusing the water of salvation to those who desire it, each of them, when taking

leave of this world, should lose both the kingdom and life. (…)”.149

Another well-respected Christian, from before the time of Augustine, was saint

Gregory of Nazianzus († 390). He described three categories of people: (1) The wicked

148
B.A. Robinson, “Limbo – Catholic Statements about the Fate of Unbaptized Newborns, Infants, etc.,
before the 20th Century,” Religious Tolerance, last modified December 9, 2010, accessed April 12, 2017,
http://www.religioustolerance.org/limbo2.htm. Robinson revers to Kevin Knight, “Limbo,” New Advent,
accessed April 12, 2017, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09256a.htm. However, Knight does not refer to
Pope Siricius. It might be the case that he updated his website and removed the error or that Robinson
misquoted him.
149
Jacques Dupuis and Josef Neuner, The Christian Faith in the Doctrinal Documents of the Catholic
Church (New York: Alba House, 1996), 540. (emphasis mine). The full quote is: “Therefore just as we declare
that respect for the Easter sacrifice [Paschal time] should not be lessened in the case of any person, in like
manner we wish help to be brought with all speed to children who because of their age cannot yet speak, and to
those who in any emergency are in need of the water of holy baptism, lest it should lead to the destruction of our
souls if, by refusing the water of salvation to those who desire it, each of them, when taking leave of this world,
should lose both the kingdom and life. Indeed whoever suffers the peril of shipwreck, an enemy attack, the
danger of siege or desperation resulting from some bodily infirmity, and so asks for what in their faith is their
only help, let them receive at the moment of their request the reward of regeneration that they beg for. This
much should suffice for my digression on this subject; now let all priests who do not wish to be wrenched from
the firmly-fixed rock of the apostles, on which Christ built his universal church, hold fast to the aforesaid rule.”
Ibid. What is more, Pope Siricius was an anti-Manichaean. Louis Duchesne, Étude sur le Liber Pontificalis, Vol.
1 (Paris: Ernest Thorin, 1877), 216. So if the speculation that Augustine might have been influenced by
Manichaeanism when forming the concept of his denial of limbo is right (see under “Gnostic, Manichaean,…
Sources” under this “Limbo” section of the dissertation), then this would mean that the idea that orthodox Pope
Siricius defended the denial of limbo becomes highly improbable.
 38

brutes, (2) The lazy greedy ones, (3) Infants or those living under tyranny. Concerning the

third category he wrote:

“Others are not in a position to receive it [the gift of water baptism], perhaps on
account of infancy (…) the third will be neither glorified nor punished by the
righteous Judge, as unsealed [through baptism] and yet not wicked, but persons who
have suffered rather than done wrong. For not every one who is not bad enough to be
punished is good enough to be honoured; just as not every one who is not good
enough to be honoured is bad enough to be punished.”150

In this previous quotation, Gregory of Nazianzus claimed that infants who had not

been baptized would not receive glory / honour or punishment from God, the righteous Judge.

According to him, those infants were in a category in which they were not good enough to be

honoured, nor bad enough to be punished.151 This could be extrapolated to a concept of limbo

for infants, but, it certainly cannot be extrapolated to a concept of infant damnation, as he

clearly denied this.

Gregory of Nyssa († 395) wrote:

“The premature deaths of infants have nothing in them to suggest the thought that one
who so terminates his life is subject to some grievous misfortune, any more than they
are to be put on a level with the deaths of those who have purified themselves in this
life by every kind of virtue (…).”152

In these words of Gregory of Nyssa, we can see that he ruled out the idea of infant damnation

but neither admitted them into a place equal to the virtuous saints.

In summary, throughout our extensive research, we have found no quotes whatsoever

suggesting that any of the pre-Augustinian Christians who influenced the Church’s tradition

believed in the damnation of infants (!). We therefore can conclude that contrary to what
150
Gregory of Nazianz Orations 40,23. I added brief explanations between brackets, to clarify the
meaning of the text.
151
The same opinion can be found in Wiggers, Historical Presentation, 314.
152
Gregory of Nyssa On Infants’ Early Deaths.
 39

Augustine claimed, the Pelagian position, on the issue of limbo, was the position which was

in accordance with the orthodox tradition and not the position Augustine tried to uphold in

his later writings.

Furthermore, as far as we were able to find out, there was no Gnostic group, in

Augustine's days, nor before his days, which made a proposal on the final destiny of

unbaptised infants as being in a place between good and evil (cf. limbo). This, of course,

should not astonish anyone, since the question of the existence or non-existence of limbo was

a debate confined to the "walls" of the Church universal. Augustine’s denial was a logical

consequence of his belief in the sinfulness of all who were part of the massa damnata,

including infants.153 We could speculate that Augustine had been influenced by the

Manichaean concept of the realms of light and darkness, leading him to believe that there was

no middle place for unbaptized babies. Whatever the case, we know that Augustine's utter

denial of the existence of limbo went against the orthodox tradition. Therefore, Augustine’s

denial of limbo and contradiction with the earliest orthodox discussion of the topic serves to

confirm Augustine’s part in the origination of the concept of infant damnation in the Catholic

Church. 154

153
As mentioned before, the same logical conclusion was taken by the unauthoritative Latin addition to
the answer to the question of original sin at the council of Carthage. See council of Carthage, Latin Canon 110.
154
The damnation of unbaptized infants is not held by the present-day Roman-Catholic church. Read
the appendix on page 42 for more information.
 40

CONCLUSION

In this thesis we have seen that Augustine’s opinion that concupiscence was an evil,

hereditary stain of original sin was not in line with the agreed-upon tradition of the earliest of

Church fathers but there are strong arguments for believing that this opinion was based on

non-Christian or spurious sources, the most probable direct source being the “Ambrosiaster”

document.

On this shaky foundation of the inheritance of concupiscence, Augustine built the idea

of the massa damnata. It was a novel doctrine, since it was incompatible with the earlier

Orthodox tradition. It was not clear what inspired Augustine to form this doctrine but the

most probable source of inspiration is the Manichaean concept of the bodily inheritance of

evil lusts.

Augustine’s denial of limbo might have been influenced by the Manichean dualism of

light and darkness but whatever the case, his claim that this denial of limbo and the positive

damnation of unbaptized infants was part of the Catholic tradition, was a novelty to the

Church universal. It was unsupported by early sources.

This leads me to conclude that Augustine’s threefold philosophical structure of

concupiscence, massa damnata and the positive damnation of unbaptized infants was not in

accordance with “the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 1:3b, NKJV).

The lack of orthodox evidence supporting an idea of genetically inheriting sin substantially

weakens the basis as proffered by Augustine.

My conclusion is believed to have significant implications for this Augustinian

doctrine which is still commonly held within quite a number of churches. If there are real

issues with the concept of original sin as having been transmitted biologically through

procreation, then we need to look for another explanation to explain the question of evil
 41

within the human race. If man is not a sinner by birth, let alone totally depraved, and if man is,

therefore, not part of a condemned mass, does this mean that every man is truly and fully

responsible for his own sins, his own repentance and his own faithfulness and holiness

towards Almighty God? These are issues the reader and the writer have to deal with, to the

best of their abilities. 155

155
As professor Ian McFarland, who is in favour of original sin, put it: “The gospel does not serve the
doctrine of original sin; original sin, if it has any place at all in Christian teaching, is legitimate only to the
extent that it serves the gospel. (…) Original sin forces us to rethink the character of our integrity as moral
agents.” Ian A. McFarland, In Adam's Fall: a Meditation On the Christian Doctrine of Original Sin
(Massachusetts: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010), 213. (emphasis his)
 42

APPENDIX: THE PRESENT-DAY CATHOLIC CHURCH

ON AUGUSTINE’S DENIAL OF LIMBO

To add weight to my argument that Augustine’s absolute denial of the concept of a

limbo for unbaptized infants was not in line with the orthodox tradition of the Church of his

day, the reader might be interested to know that only 223 years ago, Pope Pius VI rejected the

Jansenist view on limbo - which opposed the idea of limbo as being a Pelagian fable 156 - by

stating that “the doctrine which rejects as a Pelagian fable that place of the lower

regions (which the faithful generally designate by the name of limbo of the children) (…) is

false, rash, injurious to Catholic schools.”157

Do I need any more sources of evidence to conclude that Augustine’s “Pelagian fable”

conclusion is a false conclusion? Augustine may have imagined that his theories were the

Catholic tradition, 158 but, as Anglican priest William John Sparrow Simpson stated: “The

church itself has not endorsed the conclusions which Augustine drew”. 159 Therefore, the

absolute denial of a limbo for infants is certainly not part of the agreed-upon Roman-Catholic,

apostolic tradition. 160

156
Notice that the Jansenists repeated the exact same view as Augustine. The reader is again referred to
Augustine Sermons 294.2 in Jurgens, Early Fathers, volume 3, 32.
157
Pius VI Auctorem fidei 26. As can be seen in this papal bull, this was a rebuttal of Pope Pius VI of a
dogma which had been drawn up at the Jansenist council of Pistoia.
158
This is similar to how John R. Mabry put it in John R. Mabry, “That Naughty Bishop of Hippo:
Disfunctional Theological Innovations of St. Augustine,” Apocryphile, last modified 1990, accessed March 18,
2017, http://apocryphile.org/jrm/articles/augustine.html. In my opinion, this source is not a professional source.
It contains errors. The only reason for which I am referring to this source is because it inspired me.
159
William John Sparrow Simpson, St. Augustine's Episcopate (New York: the Macmillan Company,
1944), 106. Simpson was in favour of Augustine and he was a strong proponent of Anglo-Catholicism.
Therefore he serves as an excellent example to include in my conclusion to my thesis the voices of the Catholic
and Protestant churches.
160
To give two other post-Augustinian examples, Anastasius of Sinai still ruled out the possibility of
the damnation of infants in the seventh (!) century, leaving us only with the option of heaven or limbo.
Anastasius of Sinai Questions and Answers 81. Also Pseudo-Athanasius’ Question to Antioch’s Leader, even
though it is a very spurious text comprised of many incomplete manuscripts, gives us an indication of a post-
Augustinian belief in limbo. In this text, infants are barred from heaven but they also “will not be lost, for they
have not sinned.” Pseudo-Athanasius Quaestiones ad Antiochum Ducem 101. (For a comprehensive background
 43

BIBLIOGRAPHY
2 Esdras 7:48. “Apocrypha: 2 Esdras Chapter 7.” Sacred Texts. Accessed April 4, 2017.
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/apo/es2007.htm.

Adam, A. Sprache und Dogma. Gütersloh: Mohn, 1969.

Altaner, Berthold. Patrology. New York: Herder & Herder, 1960.

Ambrose Hexaemeron.

---, In Ps.

Anastasius of Sinai Questions and Answers.

Andreas, Friedrich Karl. Mitteliranische Manichaica Aus Chinesisch-Turkestan. Wiesbaden:

Walter de Gruyter, 1933.

Pseudo-Athanasius Quaestiones ad Antiochum Ducem.

Augustine Admonition and Grace.

---, Answer to the Pelagians.

---, On Blessed Life.

---, On Christian Doctrine.

---, City of God.

---, Commentary on Statements in the Letter to the Romans. Trans. P. Frederiksen Landes,
Augustine on Romans: Prepositions from the Epistle to the Romans, Unfinished
Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans. California: Scholar Press, 1982.

---, Commentary on the Letter to the Galatians.

---, Confessions.

---, The Free Choice of the Will.

---, On Genesis against the Manichaeans.

---, The Gift of Perseverance.

---, Against Julian, Defender of the Pelagian Heresy.

to these texts, read Caroline Mace and Ilse De Vos, “Pseudo-Athanasius, Quaestio ad Antiochum 136 and the
Theosophia,” Studia Patristica, no. 116 (2013): 319-322, accessed April 13, 2017, Academia. And René-
Georges Coquin, “Canons of Pseudo-Athanasius,” Claremont Coptic Encyclopedia, ed. Aziz Suryal Atiya (New
York: MacMillan, 1991), 458-459.) This gives us an indication that the denial of limbo - and hence the Latin
addition to the answer to the question of original sin at the council of Carthage - was seen as unauthoritative.
 44

---, Letter of Augustine to Vitalis, Layman of Carthage.

---, On the Literal Interpretation of Genesis

---, The Nature of the Good.

---, Marriage and Concupiscence.

---, On the Morals of the Manichaeans.

---, On the Mysteries.

---, On the Sacraments.

---, Sermon 151.

---, Sermon 294.

---, To Simplician – On Various Questions.

---, The Soul and its Origin.

---, Against Two Letters of the Pelagians.

Bailey, Kenneth E. Paul through Mediterranean Eyes: Cultural Studies in 1 Corinthians.

London: SPCK, 2011.

Bardenhewer, Otto. Patrologie. South Carolina: Nabu Press, 2010.

Beatrice, P.F. Tradux Peccati. Alle Fonti della Dottrina Agostiniana del Peccato Originale.
Milano: Vita e Pensiero, 1978.

Beecher, Lyman. Views in Theology. Cincinnati: Truman and Smith, 1836.

Bonaiuti, Ernesto. “The Genesis of St. Augustine’s Idea of Original Sin.” The Harvard
Theological Review 10, no. 2 (April 1917): 159-175.

---. ‘Manichaeism and Augustine's Idea of “Massa Perditionis”,’ HTR 20 (1927): 117–127.

Brown, Peter. Augustine of Hippo: A Biography. Berkeley: University of California Press,

2000.

Bruce, Fredrick Fyvie. “Sectarian Asceticism.” Encyclopaedia Judaica. Volume 3.

Jerusalem: Keter Publishing House, 1972.

Bruckner, A. Julian von Eclanum. Sein Leben und seine Lehre. Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1897.

de Bruyn, Theodore. Pelagius's Commentary On St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2002.

Burleigh, John H. S. Augustine: Earlier Writings. Philadelphia, Westminster Press, 1953.

 45

Conn, Harry. Foreword to Holiness and Sin, by Gordon C. Olson. Texas: Men for Missions,
1971.

O’Connell, Robert J. Images of Conversion in St. Augustine’s Confessions. New York:

Fordham University Press, 1996.

Conversion, Catechumenate, and Baptism in the Early Church. Edited by Everett Ferguson,
Paul Corby Finney and David Scholer. New York: Garland Publishing, 1993.

Council of Carthage, Latin Canon 110.

Coquin, René-Georges. “Canons of Pseudo-Athanasius.” Claremont Coptic Encyclopedia.

Edited by Aziz Suryal Atiya. New York: MacMillan, 1991.

Cyprian (?), De Centesima, Sexagesima, Tricesima. Edited by R. Reitzenstein. Reprinted by

J.-P. Migne, Patrologiae Cursus Completus, Series Latina, Supplementum, I, ed. A.
Hamman. Paris: Éditions Garnier Frères, 1958.

Cyprian, The Dress of Virgins.

---, To Rogatianus, concerning the Deacon who Contended against the Bishop.

Cyril of Alexandria Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans.

Daniélou, J. The Origins of Latin Christianity. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1977.

---, "Le Traité De Centesima, Sexagesima, Tricesima et le Judéochristianisme Latin avant

Tertullien." VC 25, no. 1 (1971): 171-181.

Duchesne, Louis. Étude sur le Liber Pontificalis. Volume 1. Paris: Ernest Thorin, 1877.

Dupuis, Jacques and Josef Neuner. The Christian Faith in the Doctrinal Documents of the
Catholic Church. New York: Alba House, 1996.

Eddy, Paul Rhodes. “Can a Leopard Change its Spots? Augustine and the Crypto-
Manichaeism Question.” Scottish Journal of Theology 62, no. 3 (August 2009): 335.

Elseth, Howard R. Did God Know? Minnesota: CreateSpace Independent Publishing

Platform, 2015.

Eusebius Church History.

“Exapostilarion of Matins in the Byzantine Liturgy.” In Anthologion di tutto l’anno. Volume

1. Rome: Edizione Lipa, 1999.

Fisher, Christopher. God is Open: Examining the Open Theism of the Biblical Authors. South
Dakota: Amazon, 2017. Kindle.

---. “The Hellenization of Christianity.” B.A. diss., University of South Dakota, 2006.

Flügel, G. Mani: Seine Lehre und seine Schriften. Osnabrück: Biblio Verlag, 1969.

Fox, Robin Lane. Augustine: Conversions and Confessions. London: Penguin Books, 2016.
 46

Frend, W.H.C. The Rise of Christianity. London: Darton, Longman & Tod, 1984.

Gregory of Nazianz Orations.

Gregory of Nyssa On Infants’ Early Deaths.

Hatch, Edwin. The Influence of Greek Ideas and Usages Upon the Christian Church.
London: Williams and Norgate, 1892.

---, “Lecture IX – Greek and Christian Theology – III. God as the Supreme Being.” Google
Drive of William Scott Taylor. Accessed February 13, 2017.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9uoKbfrwJ69U1NPRE45WExPeHM/view.

von Harnack, A. Lehrbuch der Dogmengeschichte. Volume 3. Tübingen: Mohr, 1910.

Harrison, Simon. “Do We Have A Will?: Augustine’s Way into the Will.” In The
Augustinian Tradition. Edited by Gareth B. Matthews. Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1999.

Heine, Ronald E. “The beginnings of Latin Christian Literature.” Edited by F. Young et al.,
The Cambridge History of Early Christian Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2004.

Herreruela, Esther Gómez. “James’ Theology of Sin and Evil in Relationship to the Jewish
Concept of the ‘Evil Inclination’”. Paper, Continental Theological Seminary, 2016.

Hunink, Vincent. “‘Practicing what he had taught: Augustine’s Sermons on Cyprian.” In Nag
Hammadi and Manichaean Studies. Vol. 74. ‘In Search for Truth’: Augustine,
Manichaeism and other Gnosticism: Studies for Johannes van Oort at Sixty. Leiden:
Brill, 2011.

Hunter, D. G. “Augustine's Pessimism? A New Look at Augustine's Teaching on Sex,

Marriage and Celibacy.” Augustinian Studies 25, no. 1 (1994): 166-167.

Hutter, Manfred. Manis Kosmogonische Šābuhragān-Texte: Edition, Kommentar und

Literaturgeschichtliche Einordnung der Manichäisch-Mittelpersischen Handschriften
m 98/99 i Und m 7980-7984. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1992.

Hymnscroll H 21a, 40d and 77d

Ignatius To the Magnesians (Longer version).

Irenaeus Against Heresies.

Jeremias, Joachim. Infant Baptism in the First Four Centuries. Chicago: Wipf & Stock
Publishers, 2004.

John Chrysostom Homilies on Romans.

Jowett, Benjamin. “Plato’s Phaedrus.” ScribD.

 47

Jurgens, William A. The Faith of the Early Fathers. Volume 3. Minneapolis: Liturgical Press,
1979.

Justin Martyr First Apology.

Kamimura, Naoki. “Augustine’s Evolving Commentaries on the Pauline Epistles.” The

Theory and Practice of the Scriptural Exegesis in Augustine (March 2014): 65-67.
Accessed April 14, 2017. Academia.

Kephalia.

Klimkeit, Hans-Joachim. Gnosis On the Silk Road: Gnostic Texts from Central Asia. San
Francisco: Harpercollins, 1993.

Kevin Knight. “Limbo.” New Advent. Accessed April 12, 2017.

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09256a.htm.

Lamberigts, Mathijs. “A critical evaluation of critiques of Augustine’s view of sexuality” in

Augustine and His Critics: Essays in Honour of Gerald Bonner, eds. Robert Dodaro
and George Lawless. London: Routledge, 2000.

Lee, Kam-lun Edwin. “Augustine, Manichaeism and the Good.” PhD diss., Saint Paul
University, 1996.

Lieu, N.C. Manichaeism in the Later Roman Empire and medieval China: A Historical
Survey. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1985.

of Lycopolis, Alexander. Contra Manichaei Opiniones Disputatio. Edited by Alexander

Brinkmann. Lipsiae: Teubner, 1895.

of Lycopolis, Alexander. “Manichaeism and Neoplatonism.” In Nag Hammadi and

Manichaean Studies. Volume 82. Gnosticism, Platonism and the Late Ancient World:
Essays in Honour of John D. Turner. Leiden: Brill, 2013. Accessed March 20, 2017.
Ebscohost.

Mace, Caroline and Ilse De Vos. “Pseudo-Athanasius, Quaestio ad Antiochum 136 and the
Theosophia.” Studia Patristica, no. 116 (2013): 319-322. Accessed April 13, 2017.
Academia.

Martens, Peter W. “Embodiment, Heresy, and the Hellenization of Christianity: The Descent
of the Soul in Plato and Origen.” In Harvard Theological Review: 617.

Meyers, Jeffrey J. “Babies, Baptism and Original Sin: Augustine’s Understanding of the
Theological Implications of Infant Baptism.” Accessed April 30, 2017.
http://www.google.be/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uac
t=8&ved=0ahUKEwi9ztOU6czTAhVKJVAKHQekAZcQFggiMAA&url=http%3A%
2F%2Fstatic1.1.sqspcdn.com%2Fstatic%2Ff%2F339200%2F4429484%2F12554622
02960%2F004Augustine_baptism_paper.pdf.

Nirschl, Joseph. Lehrbuch der Patrologie Und Patristik. South Carolina: Nabu Press, 2013.
 48

van Oort, Johannes. “Alexander of Lycopolis, Manichaeism and Neoplatonism.” In Nag

Hammadi and Manichaean Studies. Vol. 82. Gnosticism, Platonism and the Late
Ancient World: Essays in Honour of John D. Turner. Leiden: Brill, 2013. Accessed
March 20, 2017. Ebscohost.

---. “Augustine and Mani on Concupiscentia Sexualis.” In Augustiniana Traiectina.

Communications présentées au Colloque International d’Utrecht, 13-14 novembre
1986. Edited by J. den Boeft. Paris: Études Augustiniennnes, 1987.

---. “Augustine on Sexual Concupiscence and Original Sin.” In Studia Patristica XXII. Edited
by E. A. Livingstone. Louvain: Peeters, 1989.

---. "‘Elkesaites’, Religion, Past and Present IV." Leiden: Brill, 2008.

---. Jerusalem and Babylon. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1991.

---. “New Light on Christian Gnosis.” Louvain Studies 24 (1999): 38.

---. “Notes on Calvin’s Knowledge, Use, and Misuse of the Church Fathers.” HTS
Theologiese Studies 71, no. 3 (September 2015): 7. Accessed April 4, 2017.
Academia.

---. “Was Julian Right? A Re-Evaluation of Augustine’s and Mani’s Doctrines of Sexual
Concupiscence and the Transmission of Sin.” Journal of Early Christian History, no.
1-2 (2017): 1-18.

Mabry, John R. “That Naughty Bishop of Hippo: Disfunctional Theological Innovations of St.
Augustine.” Apocryphile. Last modified 1990. Accessed March 18, 2017.
http://apocryphile.org/jrm/articles/augustine.html.

“Manichaeism: Its Sources and Influences on Western Christianity.” In Gnosis and

Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times. Edited by Roelof van den Broek and
Wouter J. Hanegraff. New York: SUNY, 1998.

Matusek, Edward. “The Problem of Evil in Augustine’s Confessions.” PhD. Diss., University
of South Florida, 2011.

Maximus the Confessor Questions to Thalassius.

McCabe, Lorenzo Dow. Divine Nescience of Future Contingencies. New York: Phillips and
Hunt, 1882.

McFarland, Ian A. In Adam's Fall: a Meditation On the Christian Doctrine of Original Sin.
Massachusetts: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.

Methodius Banquet of the Ten Virgins.

Novello, Henry L. "The Nature of Evil in Jewish Apocalyptic: The Need for 'Integral'
Salvation." Colloquium 35, no. 1 (May 2003): 52. Accessed May 5, 2017, Ebscohost.

Ogliari, Donato. "Freedom and Necessity: St. Augustine's Teaching on Divine Power and
Human Freedom.(Book Review)." The Catholic Historical Review 96, no. 1 (2010):
 49

92. Accessed March 27, 2017.

http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=25fa187e-dbe3-447b-
80f7-14788474f29c%40sessionmgr120&vid=1&hid=128.

Olshewsky, Thomas M. “On the Relations of Soul to Body in Plato and Aristotle.”
http://web.stanford.edu/~mvr2j/ucsccourse/soulolshewsky.pdf.

Orbán, A.P. “Die Frage der ersten Zeugnisse des Christenlateins.” VC 30, no. 1 (1976): 214-
238.

Origen Against Celsus.

Pedersen, Nils Arne. Manichaean Homilies: with a Number of Hitherto Unpublished

Fragments. Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, 2006.

Pelikan, Jaroslav Jan. Development of Christian Doctrine: Some Historical Prolegomena.

Chicago: Yale University Press, 1969.

Peterson, E. Frühkirche, Judentum und Gnosis. Rom-Freiburg-Wien: Herder, 1959.

Pius VI Auctorem fidei.

Plato Phaedrus.

Plotinus Enneads.

Plumer, Eric. Augustine’s Commentary on Galatians. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.

Porphyry On the Life of Plotinus.

Psalm-Book 152.

Pusey, Philip Edward. Commentary on John. Volume 3. Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1872.

Robinson, B.A. “Limbo – Catholic Statements about the Fate of Unbaptized Newborns,
Infants, etc., before the 20th Century.” Religious Tolerance. Last modified December
9, 2010. Accessed April 12, 2017. http://www.religioustolerance.org/limbo2.htm.

Rosen-Zvi, Ishay. Demonic Desires: Yetzer Hara and the Problem of Evil in Late Antiquity.
Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011.

---. “Sexualizing the Evil Inclination: Rabbinic Yetzer and Modern Scholarship.” Journal of
Jewish Studies 60, no. 2 (2009): 265, 269-281.

Rudolph, K. Die Gnosis. Wesen und Geschichte einer spätantiken Religion. Göttingen:
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1977.

Russell, Robert P. The Fathers of the Church. Volume 59. Washington D.C.: The Catholic
University of America Press, 1968.

Sanna, Ignazio, Basil Kyu-Man Cho, Peter Damien Akpunonu, Adelbert Denaux, Gilles
Emery, Ricardo Ferrara, István Ivancsó, Paul McPartlan, Dominic Veliath, Sarah
 50

Butler, Luis Ladaria, Guido Pozzo. “International Theological Commission - The

Hope of Salvation for Infants who Die without Being Baptised.” Vatican. Last
modified January 19, 2007. Accessed April 13, 2017.
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/cti_documents/rc_con_cfaith
_doc_20070419_un-baptised-infants_en.html.

Sato, Makiko. "The Role of Eve in Salvation in Augustine's Interpretation of Genesis 3." In
The Theory and Practice of the Scriptural Exegesis in Augustine. Edited by Naoki
Kamimura, 31. Research Report: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) 23520098,
2014.

Scheffczyk, L. Urstand, Fall und Erbsünde. Von der Schrift bis Augustinus. Freiburg-Basel-
Wien: Herder, 1981.

Schremer, A. “Celibacy.” In The Eerdmans Dictionary of Early Judaism. Edited by J.J.

Collins and D.C. Harlow. Cambridge: Eerdmans, 2010.

Simpson, William John Sparrow. St. Augustine's Episcopate. New York: the Macmillan
Company, 1944.

Souter, Alexander. A Study of Ambrosiaster. Maine: HardPress Publishing, 2012.

Thiering, B. “The Biblical Source of Qumran Asceticism.” JBL 93 (1974): 429-444.

Trapè, Augustine. ‘Escatologia e antiplatonismo di sant’Agostino.’ Augustinianum 18 (Rome:

Patristic Institute Augustinianum, 1978): 237–244.

Turner, John D. in The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: the Revised and Updated Translation of
Sacred Gnostic Texts Complete in One Volume. Edited by Marvin W. Meyer. The
Netherlands: HarperOne, 2009.

Tymms, Thomas Vincent. The Evolution of Infant Baptism and Related Ideas. London:
Kingsgate Press, 1913.

Vorster, Nico. “Calvin’s Modification of Augustine’s Doctrine of Original Sin.” in Studies in

Reformed Theology, edited by H. van den Belt, vol. 23. Restoration through
Redemption: John Calvin Revisited. Leiden: Brill, 2013.

Waldschmidt, E. and Lentz, W. Die Stellung Jesu im Manichäismus. Berlin: Akademie-

Verlag, 1926.

Waldstein, M. and Wisse, F. The Apocryphon of John: Synopsis of Nag Hammadi Codices
Ii,1; Iii,1; and Iv,1 with Bg 8502,2. Leiden: Brill Academic Pub, 1995.

Wells, L.S.A. “The Books of Adam and Eve.” In The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the
Old Testament in English: Volume 2. Edited by R.H. Charles. Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1913.

Westermann, Claus S. Hoofdlijnen van Een Theologie van Het Oude Testament. Kampen:
Kok, 1981.
 51

Wiggers, Gustav Friedrich. An Historical Presentation of Augustinism and Pelagianism.

Texas: OpenAirOutreach, 2011.