DOCSLIB.ORG

Manichaeism. an Ancient Faith Rediscovered

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Manichaeism. an Ancient Faith Rediscovered Manichaeism This page intentionally left blank Manichaeism An Ancient Faith Rediscovered Nicholas J. Baker-Brian Published by T&T Clark International A Continuum Imprint The Tower Building, 11 York Road, London SE1 7NX 80 Maiden Lane, Suite 704, New York, NY 10038 www.continuumbooks.com All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Copyright © Nicholas J. Baker-Brian, 2011 Nicholas J. Baker-Brian has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the Author of this work. Translations from I. Gardner and S.N.C. Lieu (eds.), Manichaean Texts from the Roman Empire (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), reproduced with permission. Translations from H. Klimkeit (ed.), Gnosis on the Silk Road: Gnostic Texts from Central Asia (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1993), reproduced with permission. Map of The Sasanian Empire from M. Maas, Readings in Late Antiquity: A Source Book 2nd edition (London: Routledge, 2009), reproduced by permission of Taylor & Francis Books UK. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN: 978-0-567-03166-2 (Hardback) 978-0-567-03167-9 (Paperback) Typeset by Fakenham Photosetting Ltd Printed and bound in Great Britain Contents Introduction vii Chapter 1 The Rediscovery of Manichaeism: Controversies and Sources 1 Chapter 2 Lives of Mani 33 Chapter 3 Manichaean Theology I: Theology and Text 61 Chapter 4 Manichaean Theology II: The Universe, its Rituals and its Community 96 Conclusion 134 Bibliography 140 Index 154 v This page intentionally left blank Introduction My own modest area of expertise makes me rather unqualified to take on a phenomenon as vast as Manichaeism, and expert readers of this book will notice that I have largely stayed away from many of the linguistic and historical complexities of a religion which, during its lifetime, had a presence in the worlds of the Roman Mediterranean, Sasanian Persia, and imperial-era and early modern China. Whilst my interest in Manichaeism ranges across all periods of its prolific existence, this book emerges from a number of years of teaching Manichaeism in its late-antique guise to undergraduate students. In the process of turning a series of lectures into an introductory work, I wish to thank the students who first took my module on Gnostic Religions in the autumn of 2007 at Cardiff University. Any ambitions I may have harboured to go beyond what I could confidently discuss were quickly tempered by the students’ entirely reasonable demand for clarity on the part of their teacher. This book aims to provide an introduction to Manichaeism, employing a religious studies-based approach to this ancient religion across four chapters. In Chapter 1, the creation and manipulation of religious identities are examined: the various taxonomies which prior traditions and their commentators have used to talk about Manichaeism’s ‘essence’ are discussed, followed by a survey of recently discovered writings composed by Manichaeans themselves, which have enabled scholars to overturn many established ideas about the religion by bringing to light Manichaeism’s complex religious character. Chapter 2 considers the role of religious biography in Manichaeism: the way in which Manichaeans reflected on the achievements of Mani (d. ad 276), the visionary whose teachings supplied the foundations for the practices and beliefs of Manichaeism, played a crucial part in shaping perceptions of their own community in relational terms, as a church of exceptional significance, in comparison with other ‘competitor’ religions in Late Antiquity and beyond. The opponents of Manichaeism also took advantage of the fact that the religion was indeed ‘personality-centred’ in terms of its devotional focus on Mani, by creating their own biographical portraits of Mani, which in turn assisted in the formation of their own ideas about orthodox religious identity. Chapter 3 investigates the influence of texts in the development of Mani’s ideas about God and the world: the importance placed by Mani himself on the role of writing as an extension of memory became a central feature of Mani’s own sense of prophetic identity. Developing the idea of the nineteenth-century philologist Max Müller, Guy Stroumsa has recently noted that Manichaeism is the most likely immediate influence on the emphasis placed by Islam on a revealed book, as a formative influence in the notion of ‘Religions of the Book’:1 Mani’s emphasis on text as the most suitable medium 1 See Stroumsa 2009, 34–8. vii Introduction for the communication of religious truth was developed by his later followers into a canon of his writings, which was an additional influence on the way in which other religions since Manichaeism have fixed the teachings of their founders in an authoritative body of scripture. Chapter 4 considers the relationship between the myth of Manichaeism and the ritual practices of the Manichaean church, an association that has traditionally received little attention in Manichaean studies, where the emphasis continues to fall on analyses of the infamous myth alone, the very thing which has influenced the popular characterisation of Manichaeism as a dualistic religion which taught an account of the universe where Good battled Evil. However, whilst it certainly qualifies as a ‘gnostic’ religion, Manichaeism was also once a living faith with its own detailed liturgical traditions and rituals; both aspects informed the distinctive identity and ethics of the Manichaean church throughout its long history. The history of Manichaeism and the history of the study of Manichaeism involve the study of texts, i.e., the sacred writings of Manichaean communities stretching all the way back to the literary endeavours of Mani himself during the third century ad. The task of modern readers approaching this bewildering array of writings has been made immeasurably easier by the availability of English translations of key primary sources for Manichaeism, of which two source collec- tions in particular are accessible to general, undergraduate and postgraduate readers. The impressive achievement of Hans Joachim Klimkeit’s Gnosis on the Silk Road: Gnostic Texts from Central Asia from 1993, has supplied English- language students of Manichaeism with a vast quantity of translated Iranian and Turkic texts from Turfan and Dunhuang, which have helped throw light on the so-called ‘Sogdian face’ of the religion. Nearly all of these texts survive in badly damaged states of repair, and the patience and expertise of scholars from the 1900s onwards have ensured their continued survival. Klimkeit’s source-volume brings very many of them together for the first time, along with a useful series of critical notes. Alongside the discoveries of Manichaean writings from central Asia at the beginning of the last century, the emergence of Manichaean psalms, homilies, treatises, histories and letters from Roman Egypt represents the other remarkable development that has contributed to the meteoric rise of Manichaean studies of recent times. The source-collection of Iain Gardner and Samuel Lieu, Manichaean Texts from the Roman Empire from 2004, is a judicious selection of those Manichaean writings which illuminate Manichaeism’s origins in the late- antique Mesopotamian and Roman worlds, including a complete translation of the famous ‘Mani Biography’, otherwise known as the Cologne Mani Codex (CMC), one of the smallest parchment codices surviving from antiquity. Where appropriate I have employed both Klimkeit’s and Gardner and Lieu’s collections, for the ease which they offer in consulting some of Manichaeism’s most sacred writings. For readers with training in languages other than English, additional important collections of sources for Manichaeism include: Alfred Adam’s Texte zum Manichäismus and Alexander Böhlig’s Der Manichäismus (see bibliography for full details). As a result of the constraints of time and space, I have not devoted a great deal of attention to the historical study of Manichaeism. Besides, this has been viii Introduction done before, and in much greater detail than I could possibly hope to offer in a book of this kind. Whilst I make reference to historical treatments of the religion throughout the work, I would like at this point to highlight a number of studies that will be indispensible to readers seeking detailed narrative treat- ments of Manichaeism’s history. Noteworthy among the more detailed works is the ‘trilogy’ of historical studies of Manichaeism by Samuel Lieu, Manichaeism in the Later Roman Empire and Medieval China (1992), Manichaeism in Mesopotamia and the Roman East (1994), and Manichaeism in Central Asia and China (1998), all of which are ‘treasure-troves’ of dates, facts, texts and person- alities in Manichaeism’s long history, and should be consulted as a matter of routine by any serious student. For those students who have come to the study of Mani via work on Patristics, Church History and Augustine in particular, François Decret’s two-volume French-language work L’Afrique manichéenne (IVe–Ve siècles) from 1978 will provide an excellent starting point for appreci- ating the deep associations which existed between ancient Catholic Christianity and Manichaean Christianity in Late Antiquity. Valuable
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Founder of Manichaeism. Rethinking the Life of Mani
    THE FOUNDER OF MANICHAEISM Mani, a third-century preacher, healer and public sage from Sasanian Mesopotamia, lived at a pivotal time and place in the development of the major religions. He frequented the courts of the Persian Empire, debating with rivals from the Judaeo-Christian tradition, philoso- phers and gnostics, Zoroastrians from Iran and Buddhists from India. The community he founded spread from north Africa to south China and lasted for over a thousand years. Yet the genuine biography of its founder, his life and thought, was in good part lost until a series of spectacular discoveries have begun to transform our knowledge of Mani’s crucial role in the spread of religious ideas and practices along the trade routes of Eurasia. This book utilises the latest historical and textual research to examine how Mani was remembered by his followers, caricatured by his opponents, and has been invented and reinvented according to the vagaries of scholarly fashion. is Professor of the History of Religions at the Univer- sity of Sydney and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities. He is a Coptic language and Manichaean studies specialist who has published the editio princeps of more than a hundred texts, especially the major archive of fourth-century papyri discovered in Egypt by the Dakhleh Oasis Project and published under his editorship in a series of P. Kellis volumes. He is the author of the standard English translation of the Berlin Kephalaia (), the most extensive compendium of Manichaean teachings known from antiquity; and he leads the ongoing project to edit one of the largest papyrus codices that survives from the ancient world: The Chapters of the Wisdom of My Lord Mani (housed in the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin).
    [Show full text]
  • New Light on Manichaeism Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies
    New Light on Manichaeism Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies Editors Stephen Emmel & Johannes van Oort Editorial Board H. W. Attridge – R. Cameron – A. D. DeConick W.-P. Funk – I. Gardner – C. W. Hedrick S. N. C. Lieu – P. Nagel – B. A. Pearson S. G. Richter – J. M. Robinson – K. Rudolph M. Scopello – W. Sundermann – G. Wurst VOLUME 64 New Light on Manichaeism Papers from the Sixth International Congress on Manichaeism Organized by The International Association of Manichaean Studies Edited by Jason David BeDuhn LEIDEN • BOSTON 2009 This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data International Conference on Manichaeism (6th : 2005 : Flagstaff, Ariz.) New light on Manichaeism : papers from the sixth International Congress on Manichaeism ; organized by the International Association of Manichaean Studies / edited by Jason David BeDuhn. p. cm. — (Nag Hammadi and Manichaean studies) Includes index. ISBN 978-90-04-17285-2 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Manichaeism—Congresses. I. BeDuhn, Jason. II. Title. III. Series. BT1410.158 2005 299’.932—dc22 2008050516 ISSN 0929-2470 ISBN 978 90 04 17285 2 Copyright 2009 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA.
    [Show full text]
  • Was the Religious Manichaean Narrative a Mythical Narrative? Some Remarks from the Perspective of Andrzej Wierciński's Defini
    Studia Religiologica 49 (2) 2016, s. 119–131 doi:10.4467/20844077SR.16.008.5229 www.ejournals.eu/Studia-Religiologica Was the Religious Manichaean Narrative a Mythical Narrative? Some Remarks from the Perspective of Andrzej Wierciński’s Definition of Myth Mariusz Dobkowski Abstract Many specialists in Manichaeism wrote after World War II about the religious Manichaean narra- tive as a myth or a mythology. In this paper I examine whether the Manichaean narrative actually meets the criteria of definition of myth. This question is also worth asking because some scholars emphasise the monosemic character of the mentioned narrative. The definition of myth which I use is that of Andrzej Wierciński (1930–2003), a Polish anthropologist of religion. Among my reasons for choosing this is because it includes as many as nine features of myth and also refers to scien- tific narrative, which by its nature has one level of meaning. I refer this definition, above all, to Manichaean evidence in the Coptic language, but when the need arises I also invoke other sources, both polemical and apologetic. Key words: Manichaeism, myth, Andrzej Wierciński The main reason why I decided to address this issue is the observation that since the mid-twentieth century almost all scholars specialising in Manichaeism have univer- sally talked about the doctrine of “the religion of Light” as a myth or a mythology. For example, in 1949 Henri-Charles Puech wrote these words about the doctrine of Manichaeism in his monograph on this religion: “en fait, malgré toutes ses ambi- tions, dans Manichéisme comme dans tout gnosticisme, cette science qui se croit pure Raison se résout en mythes”.1 Then, in 1998 Manfred Hauser titled his extensive es- say, which reconstructs religious Manichaean narrative on the basis of the discovery from Medinet Madi, “The Manichaean Myth According to The Coptic Sources”.2 And finally, in the most recent monograph on “the religion of Light”, by Nicholas 1 H.-C.
    [Show full text]
  • Not to Hide a Light Under a Bushel: Manichaean Missionary Practices in the Roman West
    Not to Hide a Light Under a Bushel: Manichaean Missionary Practices in the Roman West By Kenneth Lai Religious Roots of Europe University of Helsinki 19 October 2017 Lai 2 UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI Faculty Theology Writer Kenneth Wenchen Lai Title of thesis Not to Hide a Light Under a Bushel: Manichaean Missionary Practices in the Roman West Discipline Religious Roots of Europe (RRE) Type of thesis Month and year Number of pages Master’s October 2017 112 Abstract The details of the mission of Manichaeism—a religion that rose out of a Jewish-Christian milieu in Roman Babylonia in the 3rd century CE—emerge from both polemical sources and genuine Manichaean sources, the latter of which have been greatly expanded in the past century with a number of discoveries. This thesis presents a comparative study that critically evaluates the sources for and identifies the practices of the Manichaean mission in the Roman West between the 3rd century CE, when the religion was founded, and the 6th century CE, when the religion was persecuted off the face of the Western Roman Empire. By comparing the corpus of Augustine (who was himself a Manichaean for 9 years) and Manichaean sources, the thesis identifies a total of eight Manichaean practices that can be tied to the Roman West: (1) the undertaking of polemical treatises and doctrinal debates; (2) the command of a broad range of languages; (3) exegesis of the New Testament to unearth Manichaean beliefs; (4) the comparison of Old and New Testament passages (= disputations) to demonstrate the falseness of the Old Testament, which no true Christian should believe in; (5) missions in the guise of merchant trade; (6) the appeal to similarities with the disciples of Jesus; (7) sensationalist appeals to the appearances of poverty and association with women; and (8) the donation of children by lay Manichaeans to become missionaries.
    [Show full text]
  • Pentadic Redaction in the Manichaean Kephalaia Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies
    Pentadic Redaction in the Manichaean Kephalaia Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies Editors Einar Thomassen & Johannes van Oort Editorial Board H.W. Attridge – R. Cameron – A.D. DeConick W.-P. Funk – I. Gardner – C.W. Hedrick S.N.C. Lieu – P. Nagel – B.A. Pearson – S.G. Richter, J.M. Robinson – K. Rudolph – M. Scopello W. Sundermann – G. Wurst VOLUME 66 Pentadic Redaction in the Manichaean Kephalaia by Timothy Pettipiece LEIDEN • BOSTON 2009 This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Pettipiece, Timothy. Pentadic redaction in the Manichaean Kephalaia / by Timothy Pettipiece. p. cm. -- (Nag Hammadi and Manichaean studies, ISSN 0929-2470 ; v. 66) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-17436-8 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Manichaeism. I. Title. II. Series. BT1410.P48 2009 299’.932--dc22 2009004687 ISSN 0929-2470 ISBN 978 90 04 174368 Copyright 2009 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. printed in the netherlands CONTENTS Acknowledgments ..................................................... ix Abbreviations .......................................................... xi part i pentadic redaction in the manichaean kephalaia Introduction...........................................................
    [Show full text]
  • By Foot to China Mission of the Church of the East, to 1400
    By Foot To China Mission of The Church of the East, to 1400 BY FOOT TO CHINA Mission of The Church of the East, to 1400 By John M. L. Young Chairman Japan Presbyterian Mission Missionary of Mission to the World of the Presbyterian Church in America Assyrian International News Agency Books Online www.aina.org 1 By Foot To China Mission of The Church of the East, to 1400 Published 1984 A.D. ¡ ¢ £ ¤ ¥ ¡ to the memory of the men of God who thirteen centuries ago first took the gospel to China - "the missionaries who traveled on foot, sandals on their feet, a staff in their hands, a basket on their backs, and in the basket the Holy Scriptures and the cross. They went over deep rivers and high mountains, thousands of miles, and on the way, meeting many nations, they preached to them the gospel of Christ.” FROM AN ANCIENT TEXT. ¤ ¦ ¡ ¢ £ ¤ ¥ ¡ to one who "also serves" in a thousand ways with her faithful help - my wife. A restoration of the original silk painting of a missionary bishop of the Church of the East, now in the British Museum, London, discovered by Sir Aurel Stein at Tun-huang, western China, in 1908. It had been found, along with many manuscripts including some Christian ones, in a cave sealed in 1036. This restoration was painted by Robert MacGregor. 2 By Foot To China Mission of The Church of the East, to 1400 CONTENT PREFACE.............................................................................................................................................................4 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................5
    [Show full text]
  • Manichaean Gnosis and Creation Myth
    SINO-PLATONIC PAPERS Number 156 July, 2005 Manichaean Gnosis and Creation Myth by Abolqasen Esmailpour Victor H. Mair, Editor Sino-Platonic Papers Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305 USA [email protected] www.sino-platonic.org SINO-PLATONIC PAPERS FOUNDED 1986 Editor-in-Chief VICTOR H. MAIR Associate Editors PAULA ROBERTS MARK SWOFFORD ISSN 2157-9679 (print) 2157-9687 (online) SINO-PLATONIC PAPERS is an occasional series dedicated to making available to specialists and the interested public the results of research that, because of its unconventional or controversial nature, might otherwise go unpublished. The editor-in-chief actively encourages younger, not yet well established, scholars and independent authors to submit manuscripts for consideration. Contributions in any of the major scholarly languages of the world, including romanized modern standard Mandarin (MSM) and Japanese, are acceptable. In special circumstances, papers written in one of the Sinitic topolects (fangyan) may be considered for publication. Although the chief focus of Sino-Platonic Papers is on the intercultural relations of China with other peoples, challenging and creative studies on a wide variety of philological subjects will be entertained. This series is not the place for safe, sober, and stodgy presentations. Sino- Platonic Papers prefers lively work that, while taking reasonable risks to advance the field, capitalizes on brilliant new insights into the development of civilization. Submissions are regularly sent out to be refereed, and extensive editorial suggestions for revision may be offered. Sino-Platonic Papers emphasizes substance over form. We do, however, strongly recommend that prospective authors consult our style guidelines at www.sino-platonic.org/stylesheet.doc.
    [Show full text]
  • Mani Ve Öğretileri
    T.C. Hitit Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Felsefe ve Din Bilimleri Ana Bilim Dalı MANİ VE ÖĞRETİLERİ Dilâ BARAN TEKİN Yüksek Lisans Tezi Çorum 2014 MANİ VE ÖĞRETİLERİ Dilâ BARAN TEKİN Hitit Üniversitesi, Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Felsefe ve Din Bilimleri Anabilim Dalı Yüksek Lisans Tezi Tez Danışmanı Doç. Dr. Mustafa BIYIK Çorum 2014 ÖZET BARAN TEKİN, Dilâ. Mani ve Öğretileri, Yüksek Lisans Tezi, Çorum, 2014. Bu çalışma, Manihaizm’in kurucusu Mani ve öğretisini konu edinmektedir. Bu bağlamda gnostik geleneğin en önemli temsilcilerinden olan Mani Dini, kurucusunun sahip olduğu etnik köken, yetiştiği çevre, yazdığı kitaplar, gerçekleştirdiği misyonik faaliyetler ve tebliğ ettiği mesajın mahiyetine ilişkin konular çerçevesinde ele alınmıştır. Bunlar yapılırken yeri geldiğince Mani’nin inanç ve düşüncelerine kaynaklık eden kültürel geri plana ait izlerden de bahsedilmiştir. Giriş, üç ana bölüm ve sonuçtan oluşan bu çalışmanın, giriş bölümünde araştırmanın konusu, önemi, amacı ve araştırma yapılırken kullanılan yöntem ve kaynaklar üzerinde durulmuştur. Birinci bölümde eldeki mevcut kaynaklar çerçevesinde Mani’nin yaşamı incelenmiş, ayrıca onun oluşturduğu öğretinin inanç esaslarını kaleme aldığı kitaplara ilişkin ayrıntılı bir anlatıma yer verilmiştir. İkinci bölümde Mani’nin teolojisi ortaya konmaya çalışılmıştır. Bu bağlamda Tanrı inancı, Tanrı’nın düşüşü, evren ve insanın yaratılışı, kurtuluş süreci, eskatoloji ve yaratım süreçlerinde ortaya çıkan tanrılar hiyerarşisi konuları ele alınmıştır. Üçüncü bölümde ise Mani’nin öngördüğü cemaat yapılanmasına ve bu inancın gerektirdiği ibadet ve ritüellere değinilmiştir. Çalışma, eldeki verilerin analiz edilip değerlendirildiği sonuç kısmı ile sonlandırılmıştır. Anahtar Kavramlar: Mani, Manihaizm, Gnostisizm, Senkretizm, Dualizm i ABSTRACT BARAN TEKIN, Dilâ. Mani and His Teachings, Master Degree Thesis, Corum, 2014. This study mentions Mani, the founder of Manichaeism, and his doctrines.
    [Show full text]
  • New Light on Manichaeism. Papers from the Sixth International Congress on Manichaeism
    New Light on Manichaeism Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies Editors Stephen Emmel & Johannes van Oort Editorial Board H. W. Attridge – R. Cameron – A. D. DeConick W.-P. Funk – I. Gardner – C. W. Hedrick S. N. C. Lieu – P. Nagel – B. A. Pearson S. G. Richter – J. M. Robinson – K. Rudolph M. Scopello – W. Sundermann – G. Wurst VOLUME 64 New Light on Manichaeism Papers from the Sixth International Congress on Manichaeism Organized by The International Association of Manichaean Studies Edited by Jason David BeDuhn LEIDEN • BOSTON 2009 This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data International Conference on Manichaeism (6th : 2005 : Flagstaff, Ariz.) New light on Manichaeism : papers from the sixth International Congress on Manichaeism ; organized by the International Association of Manichaean Studies / edited by Jason David BeDuhn. p. cm. — (Nag Hammadi and Manichaean studies) Includes index. ISBN 978-90-04-17285-2 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Manichaeism—Congresses. I. BeDuhn, Jason. II. Title. III. Series. BT1410.158 2005 299’.932—dc22 2008050516 ISSN 0929-2470 ISBN 978 90 04 17285 2 Copyright 2009 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA.
    [Show full text]
  • The Formation of Islam Religion and Society in the Near East, 600–1800
    The Formation of Islam Religion and Society in the Near East, 600–1800 Jonathan Berkey’s book surveys the religious history of the peoples of the Near East from roughly 600 to 1800 CE. The opening chapter examines the religious scene in the Near East in late antiquity, and the religious traditions which preceded Islam. Subsequent chapters investigate Islam’s first century and the beginnings of its own traditions, the ‘classical’ period from the accession of the fiAbbasids to the rise of the Buyid amirs, and thereafter the emergence of new forms of Islam in the middle period. Throughout, close attention is paid to the experiences of Jews and Christians, as well as Muslims. The book stresses that Islam did not appear all at once, but emerged slowly, as part of a prolonged process whereby it was differentiated from other religious traditions and, indeed, that much that we take as characteristic of Islam is in fact the product of the medieval period. This book has been written for students and for all those with an interest in the emergence and evolution of Islam. Jonathan P. Berkey is Associate Professor of History at Davidson College. His publications include Popular Preaching and Religious Authority in the Medieval Islamic Near East (2001). THEMES IN ISLAMIC HISTORY comprises a range of titles exploring different aspects of Islamic history, society and culture by leading scholars in the field. Books are thematic in approach, offering a comprehensive and accessible over- view of the subject. Generally, surveys treat Islamic history from its origins to the demise of the Ottoman empire, although some offer a more developed analysis of a particular period, or project into the present, depending on the subject-matter.
    [Show full text]
  • Manichaean Texts from the Roman Empire - Edited by Iain Gardner and Samuel N
    Cambridge University Press 0521568226 - Manichaean Texts from the Roman Empire - Edited by Iain Gardner and Samuel N. C. Lieu Frontmatter More information MANICHAEAN TEXTS FROM THE ROMAN EMPIRE Founded by Mani (c. ad 216–76), a Syrian visionary of Judaeo- Christian background who lived in Persian Mesopotamia, Mani- chaeism spread rapidly into the Roman Empire in the third and fourth centuries ad and became one of the most persecuted heresies un- der Christian Roman emperors. The religion established missionary cells in Syria, Egypt, North Africa and Rome and has in Augustine of Hippo the most famous of its converts. The study of the reli- gion in the Roman Empire has benefited from discoveries of genuine Manichaean texts from Medinet Madi and from the Dakhleh Oasis in Egypt, as well as successful decipherment of the Cologne Mani-Codex which gives an autobiography of the founder in Greek. This first ever single-volume collection of sources for this religion, which draws from material mostly unknown to English-speaking scholars and students, offers in translation genuine Manichaean texts from Greek, Latin and Coptic. dr iain gardner is Chair and Senior Lecturer at the Department of Studies in Religion, Sydney University. He has published widely in Coptic and Manichaean studies, including the standard The Kephalaia of the Teacher (E. J. Brill, Leiden 1995). He is also editor for the newly found Manichaean texts from the Dakhleh Oasis. samuel nan-chiang lieu is Professor of Ancient History and Co-Director of the Ancient History Documentary Research Centre, Macquarie University. He is the author of many books including Manichaeism in the Later Roman Empire and Medieval China (1985, second edition 1992); The Roman Eastern Frontier and the Persian Wars II ad 363–630 (with G.
    [Show full text]
  • Prods Oktor Skjærvø an Introduction to Manicheism
    Prods Oktor Skjærvø An Introduction to Manicheism Early Iranian Civilizations 103 = DivSchool 3580, 2006 Fall term Copyright © 2006 by Prods Oktor Skjærvø Please do not cite without the author’s permission. 2 September 22, 2006 BIBLIOGRAPHY Manicheism and Gnosticism • J. P. Asmussen, Manichaean Literature, Persian Heritage Series 22, Delmar, New York, 1975. • I. Gardner and S. N.C. Lieu, eds., Manichaean texts from the Roman Empire, Cambridge and New York, 2004. • K. L. King, What is Gnosticism?, Cambridge, Mass., 2003. • S. N. C. Lieu, Manichaeism in the Later Roman Empire and Medieval China. A Historical Survey, Manchester, 1985. • S. N. C. Lieu, Manichaeism in Mesopotamia and the Roman East, Leiden, 1994. • S. N. C. Lieu, Manichaeism in Central Asia and China, Leiden, etc., 1998. H.-C. Puech, Le manichéisme, son fondateur, sa doctrine, Paris, 1949. • K. Rudolph, Gnosis. The Nature and History of Gnosticism, tr. and ed. R. M. Wilson, San Francisco, etc., 1987. Texts. I. Collections A. Adam, Texte zum Manichäismus, Berlin, 1969. A. Böhlig and J. P. Asmussen, eds. and trsls., Die Gnosis III: Der Manichäismus, Zürich and Munich, 1980. M. Boyce, A Catalogue of the Iranian Manuscripts in Manichean Script in the German Turfan Collection, Berlin, 1960. • H.-J. Klimkeit, Gnosis on the Silk Road. Gnostic Parables, Hymns and Prayers, Harper San Fransisco, 1993. A. Welburn, Mani, the Angel and the Column of Glory. An Anthology of Manichean Texts, Floris Books, 1998. Texts. II. Coptic C. R. C. Allberry, A Manichean Psalm-Book II, Manichean Manuscripts in the Chester Beatty Collection 2, Stuttgart, 1938. I. Gardner, “A Manichaean Liturgical Codex Found at Kellis,” Orientalia 62, 1993, pp.
    [Show full text]