Armin Lange & Eric M. Meyers 
Light Against Darkness 
Dualism in Ancient Mediterranean Religion and the Contemporary World

Light Against Darkness is comprised of articles that put on display the power and pervasiveness of dualistic thought. Dualism has proved a potent cultural tool for clarifying and ordering reality. Particularly in times of social stress and psychological insecurity, it can offer a valuable conceptual grid that provides orientation to the world and a clear sense of identity. At the same time, though, there are important questions to be asked about the social effects of binary thinking. As history amply illustrates, dualistic notions can readily be deployed to legitimate cultural demonization and to rationalize violence. At a deeper level, a dualist worldview can also obscure the possibilities to be found in multiplicity.The articles in this volume treat Dualism across a wide historical spectrum and from multiple methodological perspectives. The studies are organized around the religious and cultural contexts of Ancient Judaism and they include contributions from leading voices on ancient Persia, Israel, Greece, and Egypt.Experts on modern religious and philosophical thought not only lend context to concepts applied to the ancient world, but engage recent European and American experiments in binary thought. All of the studies contribute to a richer and more complete portrait of dualism in ancient Judaism.

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A graduate of the Hebrew University and the University of Chicago, Yaakov Ariel’s research focuses on messianic, hybrid, or radical movements in contemporary Judaism and Christianity, as well as on Christian-Jewish relations in the Modern Era. He has published numerous articles as well as a number of books on these topics. His book, Evangelizing the Chosen People, won the Outler Prize of the American Society of Church History. His latest book, An Unusual Relationship: Evangelical Christians and Jews, was published by New York University Press in 2013. Ariel teaches at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he is currently co-director of the Center for Jewish Studies, and director of the Minor in the Study of Christianity and Culture.