Manichaeism before the Manichaeans, and its Revival in Christianity

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...and he Referring back to Lactantius from the previous page. demonstrates that the Greeks, the Europeans, and the entire host of the gentiles agreed on this primary point of doctrine. Burnet Thomas Burnet (c. 1635–1715), an English theologian. The work cited is his Archaeologiae Philosophicae., on page 472 of his Appendix to the Archaeology of Philosophy, concluded that the Brahmins specifically should be included in this group. Likewise, Le Clerc Jean Le Clerc (1657–1736), a renowned Swiss scholar and theologian. shows from writers on Chinese history in The Universal Library original: "Bibl. Universal." — referring to the Bibliothèque Universelle et Historique, one of the great scholarly journals of the period., Volume VII, page 348 and following, and Volume XXIV, page 96, that the Indians and Chinese did not hold a different view.

I will not mention here those other nations which were swept into this fellowship of error by the sheer multitude of the erring; a fuller treatise I intend to write elsewhere will demonstrate their inclusion. In that work, I will also form a judgment on those matters recently disputed between Hinckelmann and Aletophilus A pseudonym meaning "lover of truth," commonly used in theological pamphlets., as well as Buddeus Johann Franz Buddeus (1667–1729), a prominent Lutheran philosopher and theologian. and Wachter Johann Georg Wachter (1673–1757), author of Spinozism in Judaism, who argued that Spinoza's philosophy was rooted in Jewish mystical traditions., regarding Boehme Jacob Boehme (1575–1624), the German mystic whose ideas about God's nature were often accused of being pantheistic. and the Jews, who seem to hold the same views.

Just as this illustrious and notable example of an epidemic error The author views the idea of God as a "material cause" as a philosophical disease spreading through history. has much in common with the second error I mentioned—concerning the duality of contrary principles Dualism, the belief in two opposing forces like Good and Evil.—it is also very similar in that it did not allow its dominion to be confined within narrow limits, but spread its influence far and wide.

And this is exactly what the present treatise will place in a clearer light. I have undertaken this work with the plan and purpose of showing that the seeds of this unhealthy opinion are not only found scattered throughout the entire field of ancient philosophy, but have also—through the efforts of heretics—occupied and even today continue to infect the very vineyard of Christ A traditional metaphor for the Christian Church.. In order that the or-