ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author focuses on the aspect of the Manichaean movement in the fuller context of the social interactions between Manichaeans and other groups. The author postulates two analytically distinct forms of activities which tend to subsume under the rubric of debating in public. First, there is the Manichaean practice of posing difficult or aporetic questions as part of their protreptic invitation to secure their listeners' attention and prepare the way for their preaching. The second kind of public debate reflects the more familiar image of a formal verbal contest or disputation between two or more protagonists for the benefit of an extended audience. The author argues that we have no basis for assuming that the Manichaeans programmatically engaged others in public debates belonging to the second kind as part and parcel of their missionary activity. Even the literary Porphyry knew that Julia was likely to be more than his match in a public debate.
