On Genesis: Two Books on Genesis Against the Manichees ; And, On the Literal Interpretation of Genesis, an Unfinished Book

Augustine's Two Books on Genesis against the Manichees and On the Literal Interpretation of Genesis: An Unfinished Book represent the first two of five explanations of the beginning of the Book of Genesis that he undertook between 388 and 418. In the first, a commentary on Genesis 1-3, Augustine counters the ignorant and impious attacks against Scripture by the Manichees, with whom he was a "hearer" for nine years. The second would have been a hexaemeron, a commentary on the six days of cre...