"Christianity has always defined itself through fierce opposition to powerful 'heresies'; yet it is only recently that we have begun to retrieve these remarkable, underground traditions, buried beneath the contempt of the Church." "Of these 'heresies' the greatest challenge to the medieval Church was posed by the 'Great Heresy' of the Cathars, who saw themselves as inheritors of a true and long-concealed Christian tradition, but who were also heirs to the age-long teachings of Dualism - the doctrine that cosmos and man are constant battlegrounds between the two principal and irreconcilably opposed forces of good and evil. The Cathars, who were savagely suppressed in the thirteenth century, are the best-known medieval adherents and martyrs of Dualism, but yet behind them we can still glimpse 'one of the most elusive and tenacious heretical sects of the Middle Ages' - the Balkan Bogomils." "In this superb piece of scholarly detective work Yuri Stoyanov charts the descent and evolution of Dualism, from the revelations of Zoroaster and the Orphics, via the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Mithraic Mysteries and the great Gnostic teachers, to reconstruct its medieval revival in Europe. His book casts fresh light on some of the most obscure aspects of the history and the teachings of the Bogomils and the Cathars and illuminates unsuspected religious and political undercurrents that lie beneath the surface of official history."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

For many Westerners, Eastern Europe is about as appealing as a deodorant-free French armpit. That didn't scare Francis Tapon because not only did he learn how to rough it by walking across America four times, but he is also half French, so he kind of smells too. Francis spent nearly 3 years travelling and backpacking in 25 Eastern European countries. It started with a 5-month trip in 2004. He returned in 2008 to spend 3 years exploring all the countries again. The Hidden Europe is Book Two of the WanderLearn Series.

Discover the truth about the Knights Templar and find out how this enigmatic order of warrior monks can help to uncover the secret story of the Holy Grail. This compelling historical work charts the Knight’s achievements in a remarkable range of endeavors, from building castles and cathedrals to laying the foundations of the modern marketplace. It uncovers the link between the Rex Deus families and the creation and propagation of the Grail sagas, as well as the later foundation of the Secret Society of Freemasonry. Building a historical framework for the development of Christianity during the last years of the Roman Empire, and the Dark Ages that followed, has never been so captivating.