Manichaeism

Unhappily he had no one to tell him that this was rampant Manichaeism, else he might have seen his error.

No doubt each liberal would counter that the Religious Right displays similar, or worse, tendencies toward Manichaeism. Even if true, this response is theologically irrelevant.

Manichaeism emerged in Mesopotamia in the third century, spread rapidly, and then was suppressed.

Unfortunately, it stretches its evidence very far indeed in an effort to argue that much of Khitan culture was heavily influenced by Uyghur Manichaeism. While it is known that the Uyghurs exercised various forms of influence on the Khitans both before and after the creation of Abaoji's centralized state, and that Manichaeism enjoyed adherents among the Uyghur population, the author's attempts to find Manichaeism in different aspects of Khitan ideology and religion can strain credulity.

It is a useful synthesis of work on Manichaeism in general and in Egypt and Mesopotamia in particular (for which see now S.

The twenty-two contributions that make up the main body of the text are devoted to a wide variety of related subjects, including the interpretation of Manichaean manuscripts for a general audience, early Byzantine anti-Manichaean literature as a window on controversies in later Neo-Platonism, explicit and implicit Christian elements in Manichaeism, and others.

The latter approach culminated in Arthur Voobus' claim that Syrian monasticism had been strongly influenced by Manichaeism, which, in turn, had absorbed many ideas and practices from India.

insists that Augustine did not thoroughly know, let alone understand, Nicene Christianity when he converted to it, but also that the same must be said of his earlier adherence to Manichaeism. Yet knowing Augustine's version of Manichaeism is no easy task: "All the ways Augustine came to think about Manichaeism and apply it in his life have been obscured from our gaze by being overwritten from a later vantage point that seeks to undo those past choices in the verification of another option" (8).

Baker-Brian (theology, Cardiff U., UK.) offers a religious studies-based introductory approach to Manichaeism. Manichaeism is a third century religion based on the visions and teachings of Mesopotamian prophet Mani.

There are nine chapters divided into three parts: studies on the Manichaean Kephalaia; new sources from the Chester Beatty Codex; Manichaeism and the history of religions.

Manichaeism held, essentially, that two coequal elementary gods, good (or light) and bad (or darkness), have existed for all time.