SOAS Research Online

Abstract

The problem of the nature and dynamics of the interrelations between traditions of religious dualism and Judaism, Christianity, and Islam is of major importance for the exploration and understanding of some of the characteristic theological tensions and polemics within the Abrahamic religions. It also has significant implications for the investigation of and gaining new insight into the processes of the construction of their normative orthodoxies, especially in the spheres of devising strategies of defining and refuting doctrinal error, heterodoxy, and heresy. This chapter discusses the history of the study of dualism in religion, various typologies and definitions developed to map and analyse various types of dualism, and the roles played by dualistic ideas and influences in the history of the Abrahamic religions.