Manichaeism was an ancient religion which taught an ongoing struggle between the forces of good and evil in the universe (a form of extreme dualism). It was founded by Mani, a self proclaimed prophet who saw himself as the ultimate successor to a series of prophets like Buddha and Jesus. Mani’s teachings spread throughout the Persian empire and parts of Africa, Europe and Asia. Manichaeism and its followers were viciously persecuted by the Catholic Church because its teachings denied the omnipotence of God and equalized the power of evil. The religion emphasized conversion by self knowledge and alignment with the soul in order to balance good and evil. However, manichaeism as a doctrine decreased in popularity and largely went extinct in the Roman empire by the 6th century and in Asia by the 14th century.
Mill references manichaeism in regards to his father’s rejection of traditional religious beliefs. According to Mill, his father would not have condemned a manichaeistic view of the world with such vigor as he rebuffed Christianity and Deism; it solves the fundamental problem of having an all powerful God with the existence of evil by equalizing the two forces and denying God’s omnipotence. Mill’s father is surprised there were no modern attempts to popularize Manichaen religion, a question which has puzzled historians as well- Why did Manichaeism die out while Christianity and Islam persisted? Mill asserts his own agnosticism and skeptic nature in the text which cannot be a surprise given the vigor of his father’s rejection of religion. The discussion of religion again raises the tendency of Mill to describe at length his father’s views on subjects before mentioning his own briefly. It is clear that Mill’s father cast a very long shadow intellectually and Mill suffered from this expectation all his life.
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"Manichaeism." New World Encyclopedia, 9 Aug 2018, 16:13 UTC. 24 Feb 2021, 21:49 <https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/p/index.php?title=Manichaeism&oldid=1013647>.
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Manichaeism". Encyclopedia Britannica, 20 Mar. 2019, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Manichaeism. Accessed 24 February 2021.