Johannes van Oort
Johannes van Oort is an extra-ordinary professor of Patristics and Early Christianity in the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Pretoria. He is an emeritus of Utrecht University (1983-2000) and Radboud University Nijmegen (1999-2014) and since 2000 affiliated with UP.
He published over 30 books and innumerable articles in his fields of research, mainly on the Early Christian philosopher and theologian Augustine, on Gnosticism (especially on the world-wide dualistic movement of Manichaeism), on Reformers like Luther and Calvin, and on early-modern Christianity. His most recent books include Mani and Augustine. Collected Essays on Mani, Manichaeism and Augustine (Leiden-Boston: Brill 2020, 612 pp., reprint in paperback 2023) and the edited volume Manichaeism and Early Christianity. Selected Papers from the 2019 Pretoria Congress and Consultation (Leiden-Boston: Brill 2021, 446 pp.). Since 2020, two other volumes of collected essays are in preparation..
Since many years he is editor of Vigiliae Christianae. A Review of Early Christian Life and Language (Leiden-Boston: Brill), the Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae (Leiden-Boston: Brill), the Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies (Leiden-Boston: Brill), the UNESCO-funded Corpus Fontium Manichaeorum (Turnhout: Brepols) and former editor (and founding father) of the series Patristic Studies (Leuven: Peeters).
He is a member of several international societies of learning and past-President and honorary member of the International Association of Manichaean Studies (IAMS). In 2010 he was honoured with the Festschrift In Search of Truth: Augustine, Manichaeism and other Gnosticism. Studies for Johannes van Oort at Sixty (Leiden-Boston: Brill; reprinted 2017, ). He authored a collection of poems (Leiden 1993; reprint 2021, 77 pp.) and an Oratorium on Judas Iscarioth (2008).
Since 2009 he is an A-rated researcher of the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa.
He published over 30 books and innumerable articles in his fields of research, mainly on the Early Christian philosopher and theologian Augustine, on Gnosticism (especially on the world-wide dualistic movement of Manichaeism), on Reformers like Luther and Calvin, and on early-modern Christianity. His most recent books include Mani and Augustine. Collected Essays on Mani, Manichaeism and Augustine (Leiden-Boston: Brill 2020, 612 pp., reprint in paperback 2023) and the edited volume Manichaeism and Early Christianity. Selected Papers from the 2019 Pretoria Congress and Consultation (Leiden-Boston: Brill 2021, 446 pp.). Since 2020, two other volumes of collected essays are in preparation..
Since many years he is editor of Vigiliae Christianae. A Review of Early Christian Life and Language (Leiden-Boston: Brill), the Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae (Leiden-Boston: Brill), the Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies (Leiden-Boston: Brill), the UNESCO-funded Corpus Fontium Manichaeorum (Turnhout: Brepols) and former editor (and founding father) of the series Patristic Studies (Leuven: Peeters).
He is a member of several international societies of learning and past-President and honorary member of the International Association of Manichaean Studies (IAMS). In 2010 he was honoured with the Festschrift In Search of Truth: Augustine, Manichaeism and other Gnosticism. Studies for Johannes van Oort at Sixty (Leiden-Boston: Brill; reprinted 2017, ). He authored a collection of poems (Leiden 1993; reprint 2021, 77 pp.) and an Oratorium on Judas Iscarioth (2008).
Since 2009 he is an A-rated researcher of the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa.
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TEN STUDIES
SUPPLEMENTS TO VIGILIAE CHRISTIANAE 188.
Leiden-Boston: Brill 2024.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
ABBREVIATIONS
CHAPTER ONE: GNOSTIC-CHRISTIAN AND CATHOLIC-CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY IN AUGUSTINE’S CONFESSIONS
Introduction; 1. Augustine’s Confessions; 2. Augustine and the Gnostic-Manichaean concept of God; 3. Augustine and the Gnostic-Manichaean sacred meal; 4. Augustine’s Confessions as an offering (hostia, sacrificium); 5. Augustine’s Confessions as a spiritual document; 6. Conclusion.
CHAPTER TWO: AUGUSTINE AND MANI’S ICON (CONF. 3,10-11)
1. Rereading conf. 3,10-11; 2. Conclusions from conf. 3,10-11; 3. Did Augustine really see Mani’s Icon? 4. The problem of Against Faustus 20,9; 5. Final remarks.
CHAPTER THREE: MONNICA’S BISHOP AND THE ‘FILIUS ISTARUM LACRIMARUM’ (CONF. 3,21)
1. Introduction; 2. Where and whence?; 3. Monnica’s bishop: a. the bishop’s identity; b. ‘ … paruulum a seducta matre sua datum fuisse manichaeis …’; c. ‘… et omnes paene non legisse tantum uerum etiam scriptitasse libros eorum …’; d. ‘… sine illum ibi. (…) ipse legendo reperiet, quis ille sit error et quanta inpietas’; 4. ‘Vade (…) a me; ita uiuas, fieri non potest, ut filius istarum lacrimarum pereat’: a. the bishop’s words, their background and import; b. Monnica’s tears and the tears of the Manichaean Mother of Life; c. a note on the ‘iuuenis splendidus’; d. Augustine redeemed ‘de hac profunda caligine’; e. biblical quotes and Manichaean reading; f. ‘… istae lacrimae …’ and their meaning; g. ‘… filius … lacrimarum …’; 5. Conclusion.
CHAPTER FOUR: A NOTE ON ‘SUBSTOMACHANS’ (CONF. 3,21)
Introduction; 1. ‘Substomachans’; 2. Taking into account the Manichaean background; 3. Julian of Eclanum’s remark; Conclusion.
CHAPTER FIVE: AUGUSTINE’S DE PULCHRO ET APTO (CONF. 4,20-27)
Introduction; 1. The Manichaean work’s literary form and dedication to Hierius; 2. The Manichaean work’s speaking of ‘Beauty and Harmony’ and focus on the ‘corporeal’; 3. ‘Not able to see my Spirit’: not able to attain the true Gnosis; 4. Virtue and vice, unity and division; 5. Monad and Dyad; 6. Augustine’s Manichaean Dyad: anger and lust; 7. Anger, lust and the nourishment; 8. Once again: a fully Manichaean treatise; 9. A strikingly ‘Manichaean’ finale?; 10. One again: ‘Pulchrum’ and ‘Aptum’; ‘Decus’ and ‘Species’; ‘Monas’ and ‘Dyas’; Conclusions and final remarks.
CHAPTER SIX: ‘GOD’ IN AUGUSTINE’S CONFESSIONS (CONF. 1-7)
1. Introduction: The very first sentences of Augustine’s Confessions; 2. Analysis of the first sentences; 3. God not ‘material’ but ‘triadic’/‘trinitarian’; 4. Stages on Augustine’s way to a spiritual concept of God (conf. 3-6); 5. The essential stage: Augustine’s discovery of a merely spiritual understanding of God (conf. 7); Conclusions.
CHAPTER SEVEN: AUGUSTINE’S CONVERSION (CONF. 8,13-30)
Introduction; Brief survey of previous research; Structure of the chapter; I: Manichaeism explicitly mentioned in Augustine’s conversion story; II: Manichaeism implicitly present in Augustine’s conversion story: a. Augustine’s introductory confession (conf. 8,16) and Manichaean confessional practice; b. The role of Ponticianus (conf. 8,14-18) and the Manichaean xweštr/xwēštar; c. Augustine’s ‘morbus concupiscentiae’ (conf. 8,17) and the Manichaean Āz; d. Likely Manichaean elements in conf. 8,18-21; e. The two wills; Augustine’s ‘consuetudo’; the Manichaeans’ ‘conuenticulum’ and Bible (conf. 8,22-27); f. The ‘antiquae amicae’ and Lady Continence (conf. 8,26-27); g. Augustine’s conversion 1 (conf. 8,28): the profound reflection; the tears; the fig tree; the ‘wretched cries: cras et cras’; h. Augustine’s conversion 2 (conf. 8,29): ‘ecce’; the voice and the Manichaean Call and Answer; Courcelle on the voice; the boy or girl; i. Augustine’s conversion 3 (conf. 8,29): ‘de uicina domo’; the ‘codex’ and the ‘mensa lusoria’; ‘tolle lege’; the ‘puer an puella’ again; Rom. 13; j. Augustine’s conversion 4 (conf. 8,30): ‘mater’ Monnica and the Manichaean Maiden; Final remarks; Conclusions.
CHAPTER EIGHT: GOD, MEMORY, AND BEAUTY (CONF. 10,1-38)
1. Introduction; 2.1. Book 10 and its division; 2.2 The opening passage (conf. 10,1); 2.3 Beginning the search for God in memory (conf. 10,7ff.); 2.4 God and the five senses; 2.5 God and memory: conf. 10,12-13 and Kephalaion 56 compared; 2.6 ‘Great is the faculty of memory’ (conf. 10,26), but God transcends it (conf. 10,37); 2.7 God as Beauty (conf. 10,38); 3. Conclusions.
CHAPTER NINE: CHRIST AS GOD’S HAND (CONF. 1-13)
1. An overview of the texts from Augustine’s Confessions, with brief interpretation; 2. Summary and preliminary conclusion; 3. Notes on God’s Hand in the pre-Augustinian tradition; 4. Conclusion.
CHAPTER TEN: SIN AND CONCUPISCENCE IN AUGUSTINE’S CONFESSIONS (CONF. 1-13)
Introduction; 1. Sin and concupiscence in Augustine’s early years; 2. Sin and concupiscence in Augustine’s early adolescence; 3. Sin and concupiscence in Augustine’s later adolescence; 4. Sin and concupiscence in Augustine’s early manhood and the time of his conversion in Milan; 5. Sin and concupiscence in Augustine’s present state; Conclusions and final remarks.
MAIN BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX OF WORKS OF AUGUSTINE
1. Confessiones
2. Other works
TEN STUDIES
SUPPLEMENTS TO VIGILIAE CHRISTIANAE 188.
Leiden-Boston: Brill 2024.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
ABBREVIATIONS
CHAPTER ONE: GNOSTIC-CHRISTIAN AND CATHOLIC-CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY IN AUGUSTINE’S CONFESSIONS
Introduction; 1. Augustine’s Confessions; 2. Augustine and the Gnostic-Manichaean concept of God; 3. Augustine and the Gnostic-Manichaean sacred meal; 4. Augustine’s Confessions as an offering (hostia, sacrificium); 5. Augustine’s Confessions as a spiritual document; 6. Conclusion.
CHAPTER TWO: AUGUSTINE AND MANI’S ICON (CONF. 3,10-11)
1. Rereading conf. 3,10-11; 2. Conclusions from conf. 3,10-11; 3. Did Augustine really see Mani’s Icon? 4. The problem of Against Faustus 20,9; 5. Final remarks.
CHAPTER THREE: MONNICA’S BISHOP AND THE ‘FILIUS ISTARUM LACRIMARUM’ (CONF. 3,21)
1. Introduction; 2. Where and whence?; 3. Monnica’s bishop: a. the bishop’s identity; b. ‘ … paruulum a seducta matre sua datum fuisse manichaeis …’; c. ‘… et omnes paene non legisse tantum uerum etiam scriptitasse libros eorum …’; d. ‘… sine illum ibi. (…) ipse legendo reperiet, quis ille sit error et quanta inpietas’; 4. ‘Vade (…) a me; ita uiuas, fieri non potest, ut filius istarum lacrimarum pereat’: a. the bishop’s words, their background and import; b. Monnica’s tears and the tears of the Manichaean Mother of Life; c. a note on the ‘iuuenis splendidus’; d. Augustine redeemed ‘de hac profunda caligine’; e. biblical quotes and Manichaean reading; f. ‘… istae lacrimae …’ and their meaning; g. ‘… filius … lacrimarum …’; 5. Conclusion.
CHAPTER FOUR: A NOTE ON ‘SUBSTOMACHANS’ (CONF. 3,21)
Introduction; 1. ‘Substomachans’; 2. Taking into account the Manichaean background; 3. Julian of Eclanum’s remark; Conclusion.
CHAPTER FIVE: AUGUSTINE’S DE PULCHRO ET APTO (CONF. 4,20-27)
Introduction; 1. The Manichaean work’s literary form and dedication to Hierius; 2. The Manichaean work’s speaking of ‘Beauty and Harmony’ and focus on the ‘corporeal’; 3. ‘Not able to see my Spirit’: not able to attain the true Gnosis; 4. Virtue and vice, unity and division; 5. Monad and Dyad; 6. Augustine’s Manichaean Dyad: anger and lust; 7. Anger, lust and the nourishment; 8. Once again: a fully Manichaean treatise; 9. A strikingly ‘Manichaean’ finale?; 10. One again: ‘Pulchrum’ and ‘Aptum’; ‘Decus’ and ‘Species’; ‘Monas’ and ‘Dyas’; Conclusions and final remarks.
CHAPTER SIX: ‘GOD’ IN AUGUSTINE’S CONFESSIONS (CONF. 1-7)
1. Introduction: The very first sentences of Augustine’s Confessions; 2. Analysis of the first sentences; 3. God not ‘material’ but ‘triadic’/‘trinitarian’; 4. Stages on Augustine’s way to a spiritual concept of God (conf. 3-6); 5. The essential stage: Augustine’s discovery of a merely spiritual understanding of God (conf. 7); Conclusions.
CHAPTER SEVEN: AUGUSTINE’S CONVERSION (CONF. 8,13-30)
Introduction; Brief survey of previous research; Structure of the chapter; I: Manichaeism explicitly mentioned in Augustine’s conversion story; II: Manichaeism implicitly present in Augustine’s conversion story: a. Augustine’s introductory confession (conf. 8,16) and Manichaean confessional practice; b. The role of Ponticianus (conf. 8,14-18) and the Manichaean xweštr/xwēštar; c. Augustine’s ‘morbus concupiscentiae’ (conf. 8,17) and the Manichaean Āz; d. Likely Manichaean elements in conf. 8,18-21; e. The two wills; Augustine’s ‘consuetudo’; the Manichaeans’ ‘conuenticulum’ and Bible (conf. 8,22-27); f. The ‘antiquae amicae’ and Lady Continence (conf. 8,26-27); g. Augustine’s conversion 1 (conf. 8,28): the profound reflection; the tears; the fig tree; the ‘wretched cries: cras et cras’; h. Augustine’s conversion 2 (conf. 8,29): ‘ecce’; the voice and the Manichaean Call and Answer; Courcelle on the voice; the boy or girl; i. Augustine’s conversion 3 (conf. 8,29): ‘de uicina domo’; the ‘codex’ and the ‘mensa lusoria’; ‘tolle lege’; the ‘puer an puella’ again; Rom. 13; j. Augustine’s conversion 4 (conf. 8,30): ‘mater’ Monnica and the Manichaean Maiden; Final remarks; Conclusions.
CHAPTER EIGHT: GOD, MEMORY, AND BEAUTY (CONF. 10,1-38)
1. Introduction; 2.1. Book 10 and its division; 2.2 The opening passage (conf. 10,1); 2.3 Beginning the search for God in memory (conf. 10,7ff.); 2.4 God and the five senses; 2.5 God and memory: conf. 10,12-13 and Kephalaion 56 compared; 2.6 ‘Great is the faculty of memory’ (conf. 10,26), but God transcends it (conf. 10,37); 2.7 God as Beauty (conf. 10,38); 3. Conclusions.
CHAPTER NINE: CHRIST AS GOD’S HAND (CONF. 1-13)
1. An overview of the texts from Augustine’s Confessions, with brief interpretation; 2. Summary and preliminary conclusion; 3. Notes on God’s Hand in the pre-Augustinian tradition; 4. Conclusion.
CHAPTER TEN: SIN AND CONCUPISCENCE IN AUGUSTINE’S CONFESSIONS (CONF. 1-13)
Introduction; 1. Sin and concupiscence in Augustine’s early years; 2. Sin and concupiscence in Augustine’s early adolescence; 3. Sin and concupiscence in Augustine’s later adolescence; 4. Sin and concupiscence in Augustine’s early manhood and the time of his conversion in Milan; 5. Sin and concupiscence in Augustine’s present state; Conclusions and final remarks.
MAIN BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX OF WORKS OF AUGUSTINE
1. Confessiones
2. Other works
Since so many divergent opinions have been put forward by such eminent scholars, it seems almost hazardous to call attention to quite another aspect of Mani’s religion. One is strongly invited, however, by the evidence of the texts. Without pressing them (so I hope) into a one-sided interpretation scheme—and fully aware of the fact that Manichaeism can not be explained by unravelling its supposed constituent elements, but should be considered as an original creation of Mani’s own genius—I would like to focus here on its Jewish and Jewish-Christian (that is, in all likelihood, Elkesaite ) elements.
I am not the first to do this and, I suppose, will not be the last. Yet the present state of Manichaean studies seems to require a more or less systematic treatment of precisely this aspect. Although it seems to be at odds with several anti-Jewish utterances in Manichaean texts, in nascent Manichaeism Jewish elements played a major role.