PREFACE

TO THE READER.

The reason that drove me to write this Historical-Critical Dissertation on the ancient and new Manichaeans Manichaeism was a major dualistic religion founded in the 3rd century AD by the prophet Mani, teaching a struggle between a good world of light and an evil world of darkness, Dear Reader, was this: when I prefixed three Prefaces to the last three books of my Augustinian Summa Summa: a comprehensive compendium or "summary" of a body of knowledge, common in theological writing, the first of which embraced the Pelagian the followers of Pelagius, who emphasized human free will over divine grace, the second the Semi-Pelagian, and the third the Predestinarian history, these did not seem entirely useless or ill-timed for our present age to those into whose hands they came. Therefore, those who hold great influence over me through their authority, kindness, and favor, strongly encouraged me to devote my labor to writing dissertations of this kind—especially since the most excellent records of these matters are found in the works of Saint Augustine Saint Augustine of Hippo (354–430 AD), a primary source for early Christian history and a fierce opponent of Manichaeism, of whom they knew I was a devoted student. Yielding, therefore, to their enthusiasm, I took up the history of the Manichaeans. To prepare this work, I did not follow small streams, but went to the sources themselves, so that I might draw the purer truth from their crystal-clear waters. For besides secular writers, and besides the historians of Church affairs—Eusebius, Socrates, Theodoret, Peter of Sicily, Photius, Baronius, Noël Alexandre, and Tillemont original: "Tillemontium"; the author refers here to a list of significant Greek and Roman historians and contemporary ecclesiastical scholars—