AHC: Manichaeism takes the Role of Christianity

I think it may be asb. I mean for Manichaeism to exist we already need Christianity to be quite established (it's use of Christian theology is significant) and at that point it may be too late. Also beyond Wikipedia randomly saying so without a source, I'm unaware of it ever making any major headway into Europe, at least on the scale of its Christian rivals.

An interesting POD if there is a significant sector of it could be endorsement by Julian the Apostate. No idea if it would care better than his attempts to bring about paganism, but I feel there is enough neo-Platonism and Christianity in Manichaeism that it could be a better catch-all. On the other hand, a Byzantine emperor adopting a Persians faith (another issue with Manichaeism) could be cause for greater public upset. Hell, even floundering that would be an interesting timeline.
 

spendabuck

Banned
How established would Christianity need to be? Also, Christianity would still rise, but Manichaeism would be the main religion of Europe eventually (the Roman Empire could convert from Christianity to Manichaeism for example).

Also, how plausible would it be for the Roman Empire to convert from Hellenism to Manichaeism?
 
How established would Christianity need to be? Also, Christianity would still rise, but Manichaeism would be the main religion of Europe eventually (the Roman Empire could convert from Christianity to Manichaeism for example).

Also, how plausible would it be for the Roman Empire to convert from Hellenism to Manichaeism?

Pretty established. Manichaeism takes for granted the Christian story of the life of Jesus, just as Sikh literature uses Bhakti Hinduism in its explanations. By its inception, Christianity was already a widespread subculture within the empire and would be hard to replace.

Realistically our POD has to happen somewhere between or in the lives of Constantine 1 to Julian the Apostate. Prior to Constantine (as I understand it) there isn't really the numbers to support an emperor favouring the religion and the Apostate is the last opportunity that an emperor could not favour Christianity without being lynched.

Manichaeism just sort of appeared a bit too late onto the scene.
 

GdwnsnHo

Banned
I think the best way to achieve this would be a Roman conquest of Persia, before Manichaeism is undermined. (Alternatively, a powerful steppe tribe embracing it could work too).

Now, whilst that isn't an easy task by any measure, after all, you'd probably want to see the securing of the Carpathian Basin and the fortification of the Rhine, and conquest of Arabia before a realistic invasion of Persia - but with Persia in Roman hands, Nestorian Christianity and Manichaeism could flourish. Especially if they are both named as "Noble Heresies".

Considering the division of OTL, I'd expect a WRE, ERE, and PRE (Persian Roman Empire) emerge, and the PRE could well have a Manichee Emperor - and this could provide political protection for any Manichee Priests in the ERE and WRE, enabling the faith to spread there. AFAIK, they were doing more than enough to convert people on their own, if protected by an Emperor with the might of Persia, but is obstensibly Roman? They could very well make their faith a majority, or cause the Christian faith to reform so much that they may as well be the same faith.

At the very least, such a scenario would likely lead to a Patriarch of Ctesiphon that would be the heart of Manichaeism, much as Alexandria was the heart of Coptic Christianity.
 
I remember an old 'List of Monarchs' TL in which Manichaeism became the dominate faith of Europe through the conversion of the Roman Emperors, which is how Christianity ultimately succeeded in RL, yes it had numbers but without gaining State support ultimately the religion could have been suppressed as a dangerous sect.
 
I remember an old 'List of Monarchs' TL in which Manichaeism became the dominate faith of Europe through the conversion of the Roman Emperors, which is how Christianity ultimately succeeded in RL, yes it had numbers but without gaining State support ultimately the religion could have been suppressed as a dangerous sect.

They had the numbers to make this plausible.

Come up with a Manichaeist "Constantine" (or whomever) and get the state support. Have it last long enough to have Manicheast vigilantes (like the otl Christian vigilantes) defaceing and attacking rivals, or just have influence for a long time.

In the former scenario Christianity is wiped out. In the latter, in survives as a minority like the Nestorians did in the otl.
 
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