ABSTRACT
A single mention of Porphyry by name is not sufficient to show that Augustine uses Against the Christians. However, Augustine explains that he wrote On Harmony to defend the evangelists and to protect Christians from anxiety. Augustine sometimes goes to great lengths to make sense of apparent discrepancies between the Gospel versions. On the Harmony of the Gospels was written ca. 399-400 and is thus an early work of Augustine, whose dates are 354-430, and who converted to Christianity in 386. In De consensu, Augustine uses several rhetorical devices, and understanding them will allow people to acquire a better knowledge of Porphyry's place in Augustine's work. Wilken's insight was sound, for one has evidence that Porphyry's criticisms as found in On Harmony have points in common with his criticisms preserved elsewhere, namely the evangelists being inconsistent and misleading. Wilken associated some of the criticism found in On Harmony with fragments traditionally ascribed to Against the Christians.
