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Concerning the Nature of Good, Against the Manichæans

St. Augustine of Hippo

1h 36m read
Post-Nicene

De Natura Boni, a concise metaphysical refutation of Manichaean dualism, teaching that whatever exists is good insofar as it exists and that evil is the privation or corruption of good.

Table of Contents

1God the Highest and Unchangeable Good, from Whom are All Other Good Things, Spiritual and Corporeal2How This May Suffice for Correcting the Manichæans3Measure, Form, and Order, Generic Goods in Things Made by God4Evil is Corruption of Measure, Form, or Order5The Corrupted Nature of a More Excellent Order Sometimes Better Than an Inferior Nature Even Uncorrupted6Nature Which Cannot Be Corrupted is the Highest Good; That Which Can, is Some Good7The Corruption of Rational Spirits is on the One Hand Voluntary, on the Other Penal8From the Corruption and Destruction of Inferior Things is the Beauty of the Universe9Punishment is Constituted for the Sinning Nature that It May Be Rightly Ordered10Natures Corruptible, Because Made of Nothing11God Cannot Suffer Harm, Nor Can Any Other Nature Except by His Permission12All Good Things are from God Alone13Individual Good Things, Whether Small or Great, are from God14Small Good Things in Comparison with Greater are Called by Contrary Names15In the Body of the Ape the Good of Beauty is Present, Though in a Less Degree16Privations in Things are Fittingly Ordered by God17Nature, in as Far as It is Nature, No Evil18Hyle, Which Was Called by the Ancients the Formless Material of Things, is Not an Evil19To Have True Existence is an Exclusive Prerogative of God20Pain Only in Good Natures21From Measure Things are Said to Be Moderate-Sized22Measure in Some Sense is Suitable to God Himself23Whence a Bad Measure, a Bad Form, a Bad Order May Sometimes Be Spoken of24It is Proved by the Testimonies of Scripture that God is Unchangeable. The Son of God Begotten, Not Made25This Last Expression Misunderstood by Some26That Creatures are Made of Nothing27’From Him’ And ‘Of Him’ Do Not Mean The Same Thing28Sin Not From God, But From The Will of Those Sinning29That God is Not Defiled by Our Sins30That Good Things, Even the Least, and Those that are Earthly, are by God31To Punish and to Forgive Sins Belong Equally to God32From God Also is the Very Power to Be Hurtful33That Evil Angels Have Been Made Evil, Not by God, But by Sinning34That Sin is Not the Striving for an Evil Nature, But the Desertion of a Better35The Tree Was Forbidden to Adam Not Because It Was Evil, But Because It Was Good for Man to Be Subject to God36No Creature of God is Evil, But to Abuse a Creature of God is Evil37God Makes Good Use of the Evil Deeds of Sinners38Eternal Fire Torturing the Wicked, Not Evil39Fire is Called Eternal, Not as God Is, But Because Without End40Neither Can God Suffer Hurt, Nor Any Other, Save by the Just Ordination of God41How Great Good Things the Manichæans Put in the Nature of Evil, and How Great Evil Things in the Nature of Good42Manichæan Blasphemies Concerning the Nature of God43Many Evils Before His Commingling with Evil are Attributed to the Nature of God by the Manichæans44Incredible Turpitudes in God Imagined by Manichæus45Certain Unspeakable Turpitudes Believed, Not Without Reason, Concerning the Manichæans Themselves46The Unspeakable Doctrine of the Fundamental Epistle47He Compels to the Perpetration of Horrible Turpitudes48Augustin Prays that the Manichæans May Be Restored to Their Senses