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The 'Teachers' of Mani in the Acta Archelai and Simon Magus
THE ‘TEACHERS’ OF MANI IN THE ACTA ARCHELAI AND SIMON MAGUS 1 by ESZTER SPÄT Abstract: This paper aims to prove that the biography of Mani in the Acta Archelae of Hegemonius, which contains a great number of completely ctitious elements, was in fact drawn up on the le of Simon Magus, pater omnium haereticorum , using the works of heresiologists and the apocryphal acts, espe- cially the Pseudo-Clementine Recognitiones , as a model and source. There are a great number of elements in this Vita Manis that bear a strong resemblance to the well known motives of Simon’s life. Projecting Simon’s life over that of Mani serves as tool to reinforce the image of Mani that Hegemonius tried to convey: that of just another ‘run of the mill’ heretic, one in the long line of the disciples of Simon, and a fraud and devoid of any originality. The Acta Archelai of Hegemonius, 2 composed between 330 and 348 in Syria, 3 was the rst Christian work written against Manichaeans. The text of the Acta, as a whole, has survived only in the Latin translation, though a great part of its Greek text has been preserved in the Panarion (or ‘Medicine Chest’) of Epiphanius, who seems to have often copied his source almost word for word in the chapter on Manichaeism. 4 Besides being the rst it was also, in many respects, the most in uential. It was a source of mate- rial, both on Manichaean mythology and on the gure of Mani, for a long list of historians and theologians who engaged in polemics against the 1 I express my thanks to Professor J. -
Bibliography
Bibliography Many books were read and researched in the compilation of Binford, L. R, 1983, Working at Archaeology. Academic Press, The Encyclopedic Dictionary of Archaeology: New York. Binford, L. R, and Binford, S. R (eds.), 1968, New Perspectives in American Museum of Natural History, 1993, The First Humans. Archaeology. Aldine, Chicago. HarperSanFrancisco, San Francisco. Braidwood, R 1.,1960, Archaeologists and What They Do. Franklin American Museum of Natural History, 1993, People of the Stone Watts, New York. Age. HarperSanFrancisco, San Francisco. Branigan, Keith (ed.), 1982, The Atlas ofArchaeology. St. Martin's, American Museum of Natural History, 1994, New World and Pacific New York. Civilizations. HarperSanFrancisco, San Francisco. Bray, w., and Tump, D., 1972, Penguin Dictionary ofArchaeology. American Museum of Natural History, 1994, Old World Civiliza Penguin, New York. tions. HarperSanFrancisco, San Francisco. Brennan, L., 1973, Beginner's Guide to Archaeology. Stackpole Ashmore, w., and Sharer, R. J., 1988, Discovering Our Past: A Brief Books, Harrisburg, PA. Introduction to Archaeology. Mayfield, Mountain View, CA. Broderick, M., and Morton, A. A., 1924, A Concise Dictionary of Atkinson, R J. C., 1985, Field Archaeology, 2d ed. Hyperion, New Egyptian Archaeology. Ares Publishers, Chicago. York. Brothwell, D., 1963, Digging Up Bones: The Excavation, Treatment Bacon, E. (ed.), 1976, The Great Archaeologists. Bobbs-Merrill, and Study ofHuman Skeletal Remains. British Museum, London. New York. Brothwell, D., and Higgs, E. (eds.), 1969, Science in Archaeology, Bahn, P., 1993, Collins Dictionary of Archaeology. ABC-CLIO, 2d ed. Thames and Hudson, London. Santa Barbara, CA. Budge, E. A. Wallis, 1929, The Rosetta Stone. Dover, New York. Bahn, P. -
Sogdian Letter Fragments in Manichaean Script
ADAM BENKATO TURFANFORSCHUNG, BERLIN-BRANDENBURGISCHE AKADEMIE DER WISSENSCHAFTEN SOGDIAN LETTER FRAGMENTS IN MANICHAEAN SCRIPT SUMMARY A number of Sogdian letter fragments are preserved from the Manichaean communities in Turfan. Although the majority are written in the Sogdian script, a small number are written in a cursive variety of the Manichaean script found only in these texts. Their edition and study provides a brief glimpse into the dynamics of the community. Furthermore, the first paleographic analysis of Manichaean cursive is undertaken. Keywords: Manichaeism; Sogdian; epistolary texts; palaeography. RÉSUMÉ Un certain nombre de fragments de lettres en sogdien émanant des communautés mani- chéennes de Turfan ont été conservées jusqu’à nous. Bien que la plupart d’entre eux soient en graphie sogdienne, quelques fragments sont dans une variété cursive de l’écri- ture manichéenne que l’on ne trouve que dans ces textes. L’édition et l’étude de ces frag- ments donne un aperçu des dynamiques de la communauté manichéenne. Au-delà, cet article propose également la première analyse paléographique de l’écriture cursive manichéenne. Mots clés : manichéisme ; sogdien ; textes épistolaires ; paléographie. * * * In addition to the different genres of Manichaean literature in Middle Iranian languages, such as canonical and ritual texts, sermons, and parables, to name but a few, a number of letters in Sogdian are also known to exist. These texts, for the most part fragmentary, seem to have been sent between various locales in the Manichaean communities of Turfan and contain information about contemporary events. There are both official letters, written on scrolls containing illuminations (such as the Bezeklik letters), and “private” letters, seemingly written for more informal business between members of the community. -
ABSTRACT the Apostolic Tradition in the Ecclesiastical Histories Of
ABSTRACT The Apostolic Tradition in the Ecclesiastical Histories of Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret Scott A. Rushing, Ph.D. Mentor: Daniel H. Williams, Ph.D. This dissertation analyzes the transposition of the apostolic tradition in the fifth-century ecclesiastical histories of Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret. In the early patristic era, the apostolic tradition was defined as the transmission of the apostles’ teachings through the forms of Scripture, the rule of faith, and episcopal succession. Early Christians, e.g., Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Origen, believed that these channels preserved the original apostolic doctrines, and that the Church had faithfully handed them to successive generations. The Greek historians located the quintessence of the apostolic tradition through these traditional channels. However, the content of the tradition became transposed as a result of three historical movements during the fourth century: (1) Constantine inaugurated an era of Christian emperors, (2) the Council of Nicaea promulgated a creed in 325 A.D., and (3) monasticism emerged as a counter-cultural movement. Due to the confluence of these sweeping historical developments, the historians assumed the Nicene creed, the monastics, and Christian emperors into their taxonomy of the apostolic tradition. For reasons that crystallize long after Nicaea, the historians concluded that pro-Nicene theology epitomized the apostolic message. They accepted the introduction of new vocabulary, e.g. homoousios, as the standard of orthodoxy. In addition, the historians commended the pro- Nicene monastics and emperors as orthodox exemplars responsible for defending the apostolic tradition against the attacks of heretical enemies. The second chapter of this dissertation surveys the development of the apostolic tradition. -
Manichaean Imagery of Christ As God's Right Hand
Manichaean Imagery of Christ as God’s Right Hand Johannes van Oort* University of Pretoria [email protected] Abstract The article examines the conspicuous references to God‘s ‗Right Hand‘ in Manichaeism by analysing texts from both Western and Eastern sources. The analysed texts prove that the eye-catching imagery (directly or indirectly) refers to Christ. Perhaps this imagery of Christ as God‘s Right Hand also had its place in Manichaean art. The article aims to function as background for a subsequent study of Augustine‘s portrayal of Christ as manus or dextera Dei in his Confessions. Keywords Manichaeism – Christology – God‘s Right Hand – imagery – metaphorical language – Manichaean Christian art Introduction The past years have seen an increasing number of studies on Christ in Manichaeism.1 One striking aspect, however, is still to be explored, sc. the * I would like to acknowledge Jason BeDuhn, Zsuzsanna Gulácsi and Anne-Maré Kotzé for their attentive reading of an earlier version of this article. The study was completed with the support of the National Research Foundation (NRF) in South Africa. 1 Apart from overviews in general publications on Manichaeism, the main topical studies include: I. Gardner, ‗The Docetic Jesus—Some Interconnections Between Marcionism, Manichaeism and Mandaeism‘, in: idem (ed.), Coptic Theological Papyri II: Edition, Commentary, Translation, Wien: In Kommission bei Verlag Brüder Hollinek 1988, 57-85; N.A. Pedersen, ‗Early Manichaean Christology, Primarily in Western Sources‘, in: P. Bryder (ed.), Manichaean Studies, Lund: Plus Ultra 1988, 157-190; Gardner, ‗The Manichaean Account of Jesus and the Passion of the Living Soul‘, in: A. -
Archons (Commanders) [NOTICE: They Are NOT Anlien Parasites], and Then, in a Mirror Image of the Great Emanations of the Pleroma, Hundreds of Lesser Angels
A R C H O N S HIDDEN RULERS THROUGH THE AGES A R C H O N S HIDDEN RULERS THROUGH THE AGES WATCH THIS IMPORTANT VIDEO UFOs, Aliens, and the Question of Contact MUST-SEE THE OCCULT REASON FOR PSYCHOPATHY Organic Portals: Aliens and Psychopaths KNOWLEDGE THROUGH GNOSIS Boris Mouravieff - GNOSIS IN THE BEGINNING ...1 The Gnostic core belief was a strong dualism: that the world of matter was deadening and inferior to a remote nonphysical home, to which an interior divine spark in most humans aspired to return after death. This led them to an absorption with the Jewish creation myths in Genesis, which they obsessively reinterpreted to formulate allegorical explanations of how humans ended up trapped in the world of matter. The basic Gnostic story, which varied in details from teacher to teacher, was this: In the beginning there was an unknowable, immaterial, and invisible God, sometimes called the Father of All and sometimes by other names. “He” was neither male nor female, and was composed of an implicitly finite amount of a living nonphysical substance. Surrounding this God was a great empty region called the Pleroma (the fullness). Beyond the Pleroma lay empty space. The God acted to fill the Pleroma through a series of emanations, a squeezing off of small portions of his/its nonphysical energetic divine material. In most accounts there are thirty emanations in fifteen complementary pairs, each getting slightly less of the divine material and therefore being slightly weaker. The emanations are called Aeons (eternities) and are mostly named personifications in Greek of abstract ideas. -
Adam and Seth in Arabic Medieval Literature: The
ARAM, 22 (2010) 509-547. doi: 10.2143/ARAM.22.0.2131052 ADAM AND SETH IN ARABIC MEDIEVAL LITERATURE: THE MANDAEAN CONNECTIONS IN AL-MUBASHSHIR IBN FATIK’S CHOICEST MAXIMS (11TH C.) AND SHAMS AL-DIN AL-SHAHRAZURI AL-ISHRAQI’S HISTORY OF THE PHILOSOPHERS (13TH C.)1 Dr. EMILY COTTRELL (Leiden University) Abstract In the middle of the thirteenth century, Shams al-Din al-Shahrazuri al-Ishraqi (d. between 1287 and 1304) wrote an Arabic history of philosophy entitled Nuzhat al-Arwah wa Raw∂at al-AfraÌ. Using some older materials (mainly Ibn Nadim; the ∑iwan al-Ìikma, and al-Mubashshir ibn Fatik), he considers the ‘Modern philosophers’ (ninth-thirteenth c.) to be the heirs of the Ancients, and collects for his demonstration the stories of the ancient sages and scientists, from Adam to Proclus as well as the biographical and bibliographical details of some ninety modern philosophers. Two interesting chapters on Adam and Seth have not been studied until this day, though they give some rare – if cursory – historical information on the Mandaeans, as was available to al-Shahrazuri al-Ishraqi in the thirteenth century. We will discuss the peculiar historiography adopted by Shahrazuri, and show the complexity of a source he used, namely al-Mubashshir ibn Fatik’s chapter on Seth, which betray genuine Mandaean elements. The Near and Middle East were the cradle of a number of legends in which Adam and Seth figure. They are presented as forefathers, prophets, spiritual beings or hypostases emanating from higher beings or created by their will. In this world of multi-millenary literacy, the transmission of texts often defied any geographical boundaries. -
Sayı: 13 Güz 2013
.......... Sayı: 13 Güz 2013 Ankara 1 .......... Dil Araştırmaları/Language Studies Uluslararası Hakemli Dergi ISSN: 1307-7821 Sayı: 13 Güz 2013 Sahibi/Owner Avrasya Yazarlar Birliği adına Yakup DELİÖMEROĞLU Yayın Yönetmeni/Editor Prof. Dr. Ahmet Bican ERCİLASUN Sorumlu Yazı İşleri Müdürü/Editorial Director Prof. Dr. Ekrem ARIKOĞLU Yayın Yönetmeni Yardımcısı/Vice Editor Araş. Gör. Hüseyin YILDIZ Yayın Danışma Kurulu/Editorial Advisory Board Prof. Dr. Şükrü Halûk AKALIN • Prof. Dr. Mustafa ARGUNŞAH • Prof. Dr. Sema BARUTÇU ÖZÖNDER • Prof. Dr. Ahmet BURAN • Prof. Dr. İsmet CEMİLOĞLU • Prof. Dr. Hülya KASAPOĞLU ÇENGEL • Prof. Dr. Nurettin DEMİR • Prof. Dr. Hayati DEVELİ • Prof. Dr. Musa DUMAN • Prof. Dr. Tuncer GÜLENSOY • Prof. Dr. Gürer GÜLSEVİN • Prof. Dr. Ayşe İLKER • Prof. Dr. Günay KARAAĞAÇ • Prof. Dr. Leylâ KARAHAN • Prof. Dr. Metin KARAÖRS • Prof. Dr. Yakup KARASOY • Prof. Dr. Ceval KAYA • Prof. Dr. M. Fatih KİRİŞÇİOĞLU • Prof. Dr. Zeynep KORKMAZ • Prof. Dr. Mehmet ÖLMEZ • Prof. Dr. Mustafa ÖNER • Prof. Dr. Mustafa ÖZKAN • Prof. Dr. Nevzat ÖZKAN • Prof. Dr. Çetin PEKACAR • Prof. Dr. Osman Fikri SERTKAYA • Prof. Dr. Vahit TÜRK • Prof. Dr. Cengiz ALYILMAZ • Prof. Dr. Bilgehan Atsız GÖKDAĞ • Doç. Dr. İsmail DOĞAN • Prof. Dr. Zühal YÜKSEL • Yrd. Doç. Dr. Ferhat TAMİR Yazı Kurulu/Executive Board Doç. Dr. Dilek ERGÖNENÇ AKBABA • Yrd. Doç. Dr. Gülcan ÇOLAK BOSTANCI • Doç. Dr. Figen GÜNER DİLEK • Doç. Dr. Feyzi ERSOY • Doç. Dr. Habibe YAZICI ERSOY • Doç. Dr. Yavuz KARTALLIOĞLU • Yrd. Doç. Dr. Veli Savaş YELOK • Dr. Hakan AKÇA • Yrd. Doç. Dr. Hüseyin YILDIRIM Akademik Temsilciler/Academic Representatives Abdulkadir ÖZTÜRK (Kayseri), Yusuf ÖZÇOBAN (Balıkesir), İsmail SÖKMEN (İzmir), Musa SALAN (Çankırı), Aslıhan DİNÇER (İzmir), M. Emin YILDIZLI (Nevşehir), İlker TOSUN (Edirne), Özer ŞENÖDEYİCİ (Trabzon) Düzelti/Redaction Hüseyin YILDIZ İngilizce Danışmanı/English Language Consultant Yrd. -
Manichaean Networks
The Manichaean Church in Kellis Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies Editors Jason D. BeDuhn Dylan M. Burns Johannes van Oort Editorial Board A. D. Deconick – W.-P. Funk – I. Gardner S. N. C. Lieu – H. Lundhaug – A. Marjanen – L. Painchaud N. A. Pedersen – T. Rasimus – S. G. Richter M. Scopello – J. D. Turner† – F. Wursy Volume 100 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/nhms The Manichaean Church in Kellis By Håkon Fiane Teigen LEIDEN | BOSTON This is an open access title distributed under the terms of the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license, which permits any non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided no alterations are made and the original author(s) and source are credited. Further information and the complete license text can be found at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ The terms of the CC license apply only to the original material. The use of material from other sources (indicated by a reference) such as diagrams, illustrations, photos and text samples may require further permission from the respective copyright holder. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Teigen, Håkon Fiane, author. Title: The Manichaean church in Kellis / by Håkon Fiane Teigen. Description: Leiden ; Boston : Brill, [2021] | Series: Nag Hammadi and Manichaean studies, 0929–2470 ; volume 100 | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2021008227 (print) | LCCN 2021008228 (ebook) | ISBN 9789004459762 (hardback) | ISBN 9789004459779 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Manichaeism. | Manichaeans—Egypt—Kellis (Extinct city) | Kellis (Extinct city)—Civilization. Classification: LCC BT1410 .T45 2021 (print) | LCC BT1410 (ebook) | DDC 299/.932—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021008227 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021008228 Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill”. -
The Greatest Mirror: Heavenly Counterparts in the Jewish Pseudepigrapha
The Greatest Mirror Heavenly Counterparts in the Jewish Pseudepigrapha Andrei A. Orlov On the cover: The Baleful Head, by Edward Burne-Jones. Oil on canvas, dated 1886– 1887. Courtesy of Art Resource. Published by State University of New York Press, Albany © 2017 State University of New York All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher. For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu Production, Dana Foote Marketing, Fran Keneston Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Orlov, Andrei A., 1960– author. Title: The greatest mirror : heavenly counterparts in the Jewish Pseudepigrapha / Andrei A. Orlov. Description: Albany, New York : State University of New York Press, [2017] | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2016052228 (print) | LCCN 2016053193 (ebook) | ISBN 9781438466910 (hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781438466927 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Apocryphal books (Old Testament)—Criticism, interpretation, etc. Classification: LCC BS1700 .O775 2017 (print) | LCC BS1700 (ebook) | DDC 229/.9106—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016052228 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 For April DeConick . in the season when my body was completed in its maturity, there imme- diately flew down and appeared before me that most beautiful and greatest mirror-image of myself. -
Augustine on Manichaeism and Charisma
Religions 2012, 3, 808–816; doi:10.3390/rel3030808 OPEN ACCESS religions ISSN 2077-1444 www.mdpi.com/journal/religions Article Augustine on Manichaeism and Charisma Peter Iver Kaufman Jepson School, University of Richmond, Room 245, Jepson Hall, 28 Westhampton Way, Richmond, VA 23173, USA; E-Mail: [email protected] Received: 5 June 2012; in revised form: 28 July 2012 / Accepted: 1 August 2012 / Published: 3 September 2012 Abstract: Augustine was suspicious of charismatics‘ claims to superior righteousness, which supposedly authorized them to relay truths about creation and redemption. What follows finds the origins of that suspicion in his disenchantment with celebrities on whom Manichees relied, specialists whose impeccable behavior and intellectual virtuosity were taken as signs that they possessed insight into the meaning of Christianity‘s sacred texts. Augustine‘s struggles for self-identity and with his faith‘s intelligibility during the late 370s, 380s, and early 390s led him to prefer that his intermediaries between God and humanity be dead (martyred), rather than alive and charismatic. Keywords: arrogance; Augustine; charisma; esotericism; Faustus; Mani; Manichaeism; truth The Manichaean elite or elect adored publicity. Augustine wrote the first of his caustic treatises against them in 387, soon after he had been baptized in Milan and as he was planning passage back to Africa, where he was born, raised, and educated. Baptism marked his devotion to the emerging mainstream Christian orthodoxy and his disenchantment with the Manichees‘ increasingly marginalized Christian sect, in which, for nine or ten years, in North Africa and Italy, he listened to specialists—charismatic leaders and teachers. -
Gnostic Imagery from the Beginning of Our Era to Today Katherine Schaefers, MA
Gnostic Imagery from the Beginning of our Era to Today Katherine Schaefers, M.A. Go directly to the start of the text. Abstract Originally presented at the conference “Hidden in Plain Sight: The Influence of Western Esoteric Movements on Modern Thought,” this essay is an adaption, with additional updates and insights, from my 2004 Master’s thesis “Gnosticism: Towards an Archaeological Definition.” It endeavors to provide suggestions for the possible identification of “Gnostic” material culture, while taking on the question of why there are very few legitimately recognized artifacts from an early Christian period religious movement termed “Gnosticism” by later scholars. This study works to aid scholars in the iconographic identification of ancient Gnosticism, so that we may trace and evaluate symbolic meaning as the movement has continued up to the present day, and its effects on modern trends of thought and belief. The ancient and modern definitions of “Gnosis,” “Gnostic,” and “Gnosticism” are discussed, along with images illustrating possible Gnostic iconography. The concluding section will take a look at the symbols of two modern Gnostic movements, the Ecclesia Gnostica of Los Angeles, California headed by Dr. Stefan Heller and Novus Spiritus, established by Sylvia Browne. Imagerie gnostique du début de notre ère à aujourd’hui Katherine Schaefers, M.A. Résumé À l’origine présenté à la conférence « Dissimulé en pleine lumière: l’influence des mouvements ésotériques occidentaux sur la pensée moderne », cet essai est une adaptation de ma thèse de maîtrise de 2004 intitulée « gnosticisme : vers une définition archéologique », avec des mises à jour et des notions supplémentaires. C’est une tentative pour proposer des suggestions d’identification potentielle de culture matérielle « gnostique », tout en considérant la question du pourquoi il y a peu d’artefacts légitimement reconnus provenant de la période religieuse du début du christianisme, appelée « gnosticisme » plus tard par les érudits.