Manichaeism, once the state religion of Persia and long a vigorous contender for converts throughout the ancient Near East, is best remembered for the simplicity of its teachings about divine power. For Manicheans, the universe was ruled by a Lord of Light and a Lord of Darkness, who fought continuously for supremacy. All that was good was a gift from the Lord of Light, and all that was evil was an affliction visited by the Lord of Darkness. This dualism extended to cosmogony and ethics, splitting the universe into a spiritual realm that acted on the goodness of the human soul and a material realm that abetted the evil of the human body. These stark oppositions mask a remarkable degree of doctrinal and liturgical complexity, the details of which have been obscured by centuries of suppression and persecution, first by the Christian church, then by Islam.

One of the world's foremost experts on ancient religions, Michel Tardieu examines the fragmentary sources that have come down to us, pieces together the life and teachings of the prophet Mani (the itinerant Persian preacher and founder of this long lost faith), illuminates Manichaeism's ecclesiastical hierarchy and distinctive moral code, and investigates its ideas about the pre-life and afterlife. "Manichaeism" provides a brilliantly compact survey of what was once one of the world's great faiths, and then became one of its great heresies, surviving now only as a shadowy presence haunting the religions that superseded it.

Hans Lewys 1956 in Kairo erschienenes Buch 'Chaldaean Oracles and Theurgy. Mysticism, Magic and Platonism in the later Roman Empire' hat die Erforschung der Chaldaeischen Orakel angeregt wie kaum ein zweites Werk. Das 50. Jahr seit der Veroffentlichung war der Anlass einer Tagung zu den Chaldaeischen Orakeln, die 2006 in Konstanz stattfand. Die im vorliegenden Sammelband enthaltenen Beitrage gehen auf diese Veranstaltung zuruck. Sie beleuchten die Chaldaeischen Orakel in ihrem religios-philosophischen und literarischen Kontext, der etwa die Chaldaeerbilder der romischen Kaiserzeit und die Tubinger Theosophie umfasst. Ferner gehort ihre historische und systematische Interpretation, wie die Verfasserfrage und die Problematik des Monismus, ebenso zur weiteren Erschliessung wie die konkrete Exegese von Einzeltexten (vor allem zu Hekate sowie zu Glaube, Wahrheit, Liebe und Hoffnung). Das breite Spektrum ihrer Rezeption durch pagane und christliche Autoren der Spatantike (Iamblichos, Proklos) und des Mittelalters (Michael Pellos, Nikephoros Gregoras) sowie durch esoterisch gepragte Dichter der Neuzeit wie W. B. Yeats und E. Pound runden die Deutung und das Verstandnis der Chaldaeischen Orakel ab.