Posted on 01/25/2015 1:00:02 PM PST by SunkenCiv
It is astonishing that scholars of religion refer so little to the Manichaean faith, which in its day -- roughly from the third century AD through the fourteenth century -- was a fully fledged world religion, which interacted with Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Zoroastrianism and Judaism. At various times, its adherents could be found across the whole of Eurasia, from France to China. It also created a substantial body of scriptures and commentaries, most of which are now lost.
Manichaeanism (Manichaeism) is, I believe, the only example of a world religion that has arisen and then vanished entirely, seemingly without trace. (Although Zoroastrianism is much diminished, it does survive in scattered remnants). Bear that in mind the next time someone says that "You can't kill an idea."...
For centuries, our knowledge of Mani's faith was mainly dependent on comments in other rival traditions, which naturally tended to be hostile. In the 1930s, though, that situation was revolutionized by the amazing discovery of a collection of codices that told the Manichaean story in the words of believers themselves. Other texts have subsequently been found in Greek, Iranian and Uighur, reminding us of the extraordinary spread of the faith. Some of the most important discoveries have been made in Western China, in oasis settlements connected to the Silk Road.
The find of this collection, the Medinet Madi library, reminds us of how extraordinarily lucky we have been with such discoveries in modern times...
Although Mani himself was a Mesopotamian, who lived under the rule of the Persian Empire, he had followers in Egypt, who translated his sacred words into Coptic. In that form, the collections turned up in the 1920s near ancient Terenouthis.
(Excerpt) Read more at patheos.com ...
!
Manichaean script
Omniglot - the online encyclopedia of writing systems & languages
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/manichaean.php
http://www.omniglot.com/images/writing/manichaean.gif
Manichaeism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manichaeism
:’)
Augustine was a convert from Gnostic Manichaeism and kept some of the beliefs and introduced corrupted theology that was later picked up by Martin Luther and John Calvin. One of the most significant corruptions was the concept of original sin, the idea that we are born sinful and that our sin is not total and complete fault of our own.
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3296/3296-h/3296-h.htm
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1101.htm
http://www.stoa.org/hippo/
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1201.htm
I used to have a friend who was a hero, a prophet, and a martyr in his own mind. I remember telling him he should start his own religion. A dig I suppose, because we both knew I wouldn't be one of the followers.
Back to Manichaeism - sounds complicated.
I was, frankly, quite shocked to learn only a few weeks ago that St. Augustine was a Manichean for many years before converting.
BTW, I was also shocked to learn that Augustine died when his home of Hippo located on the Southern Mediterranean coast was overrun by a bunch of Germanic Vandals!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustine_of_Hippo
Simple form—so I recall—was that there is two gods—a good god and a bad god. (Jesus and Satan) One of heaven one of earth. Follow one and reject the other. Where am I wrong?
The concept pre-dated those two by a couple thousand years; Ps 51:5. Paul in Romans 5:12-14 discusses it as well.
Yet babies die.
why would he switch the blame to God in his confession?
That is an interesting view. Lol.
David was conceived out of wedlock.
Do you dispute Jesse as his father?
he was not in the first presentation of Jesse sons
Because he was youngest, Jesse and Samuel were initially interested in the outward form.
I have been aware of the existence of the Manichean Heresy for at least 50 year, along with the Albigensian Heresy and the Arian Heresy. A few years ago I read a historic novel about the end of the Roman Empire in which Arianism figured prominently. I have forgotten the details and title of the book but basically it covers the rise and rule of a Gothic king/emperor who was an Arian and tried to save the Roman empire from its weak and dissolute leadership which suffered and cracked under the assaults of Attila the Hun and Alaric in the 500s AD. He was forced out of Italy (Ravenna?) and set up rule in what became France and had serious run-ins with Genseric, a Vandal who ruled in north Africa.
Arian Christianity was a much more tolerant form. It was tolerant of other brands of Christianity and was more friendly to women, among other things. The Roman church was successful in destroying Arianism, Manichaeism, and other offshoots of Christianity except for the Eastern Orthodox form. That whole period is very interesting.
I did some more checking on ancient heresies and discovered that several were very much involved with the original sin controversy. This list was written by a man who is apparently of the Roman Catholic belief, and some of his descriptions may reflect a slight bias.
http://www.ignatiusinsight.com/features2005/kwhthd_ancntheresies_july05.asp
The above site did not mention the Albigensian Heresy which was fought in the 1200s. It has also been called a Crusade, but has nothing to do with the Holy Lands crusades, except as a military learning experience. See this link which does a nice job of listing the important philosophical and historical points.
http://www.the-orb.net/textbooks/crusade/albig.html
I found this very well designed site listing war related death tolls for many different wars worldwide. Multiple references/authors are listed for each topic with their estimates for direct war killing and starvation/disease deaths. For the Albigensian my guess after looking at the various figures is 1/2 to a million, with around 5,000 executed by trial of the Inquisition.
http://necrometrics.com/pre1700a.htm
Conclusions: Wars are terrible things. The European religious war period of from 1559-1715 was extremely fatal. No wonder our founders kept religion out of the Constitution. The Muslim world is undergoing a similar period of sectarian warfare (Sunni vs Shia) and would do well to learn the lessons of history regarding religious wars.
You need to re-read your history.
Three was no “Eastern Orthodox” form until the schism created by crowning Charlemagne “Holy Roman Emperor.” Until then the Emperor of the Easter Roman Empire was titular head of the Church. Authority was divided between multiple sites such as Constantinope, Antioch, Rome, etc.
By crowning Charlemagne emperor and claiming primacy, Rome split the Church.
I reread my post. I did not say WHEN the Eastern Orthodox form prevailed, merely that Rome did not succeed in suppressing it. The competition between Rome and Constantinople continued a number of centuries, as is pointed out in this link regarding this slow estrangement. Be sure to click the timeline chart below the explanation. I was surprised to discover that the “Dogmas of Immaculate Conception and of Papal Infallibility were later 1800s doctrines. Below the chart there is also a list of dated events.
http://saintignatiuschurch.org/timeline/
I decided to do an additional check on Genseric, also called Gaiseric, the Vandal king. He had an extremely successful and long lasting rule, but when he died named his oldest son king in the Roman manner, rather than have the army elect the king in the Germanic manner. This son was a brutal tyrant and led to the fading of the Vandal success and perhaps their bad name? A very interesting read of a complex time in changing empires and powers. Constantinople was already acting quite independently of Rome although the schism in doctrine had not yet occurred.
http://homepages.rpi.edu/~holmes/Hobbies/Genealogy2/ps15/ps15_208.htm
Spot on and insightful. Most straying is for a ‘good’ cause.
Sin means ‘missing the mark’. That would imply knowledge which implies agency. Babies would be naturally excluded, plus Christ makes special exception for them in the NT.
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