Manichaean Studies in the 21st Century

Proceedings of an International Conference to Mark the 50th Anniversary of the International Association of Patristic Studies, 2015

Verbum Et Ecclesia, 2009

Matsangou, R. (2021, April 28). Eastern Roman Manichaeism. Database of Religious History, Vancouver, BC: University of British Columbia., 2021

Mani, the founder of Manichaeism, was born in third-century Mesopotamia (April 14, 216 AD), which, since 226 AD, was a part of the Sassanian Empire. Living in the pluralistic environment of Mesopotamia, the religion he instituted contains elements of many religious traditions with which he was familiar, such as Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, and Christianity. Actually, Mani regarded himself as the last prophet in a long chain of prophets, which included Zoroaster, Buddha, and Christ. The most notable feature of Manichaeism is its dualism. At the foundation of the Manichaean religion lies the doctrine of the two principles (also called roots or natures), which correspond to light and darkness, good and evil, spirit and matter. The Manichaean community itself consisted of two classes: the hearers or catechumens (the lay believers), and the highest echelons of the Manichaean Church, the Elect. Mani envisioned that his religion would surpass preceding ones by creating an ecumenical religion ...

History of Manichaeism, 2023

Manichaeism is a dualistic religion founded by the Persian prophet Mani in the third century AD. The religion spread widely throughout the Roman and Persian empires, but was eventually suppressed and by the 7th century it was no longer a world religion.

Mani established his religion on very broad syncretistic grounds, in the hope that it could conquer the whole oikumene, East and West, by integrating the religious traditions of all peoples-except those of the Jews. Although Manichaeism as an organized religion survived for more than a thousand years, and its geographical realm extended from North Africa to Southeast China, this ambition never came close to being realized, and the Manichaeans remained, more often than not, small and persecuted communities.1 Yet, in a somewhat paradoxical way, Mani did achieve his ecumenical goal. For more than half a millennium, from its birth in the third century throughout late antiquity and beyond, his religion was despised and rejected with the utmost violence by rulers and thinkers belonging to all shades of the spiritual and religious spectrum. In this sense, Manichaeism, an insane system, a "mania,"2 appeared as the outsider par excellence. It thus offered a clear reference point, a convenient negative l For the best overview of Manichaeism in its roots and developments East and West, see now S.

Vigiliae Christianae, 1987

Bibliography of works cited 305 Index and glossary 347 Maps 1. The Near East in the time of Mani xviii 2. The Silk Road from China to the Roman Orient xx 3. South China xxii Preface Ever since the discovery of genuine Manichaean texts from Tun-huang and Turfan at the beginning of this century, the study of Manichaeism has been an interdisciplinary one, (tawing together classicists, orientalists, theologians and historians. A trans-cultural survey of the history of Manichaeism therefore requires no justification. Mani, the founder of the religion, had intended that it should be preached in every part of the known world. Any attempt, therefore, at a missionary history of Manichaeism must inevitably involve the crossing of the boundaries of established academic disciplines. I have based my research, as far as I am able, on a study of the original sources in Greek, Latin, Syriac, Middle Persian, Parthian and Chinese. Since I have no first-hand knowledge of the sources in Sogdian, Uighur and Arabic, the history of the sect in Muslim Iraq and in the Uighur Kingdom of QoCo can only be sketched in outline. However, although the main focus of the book is on the history of the sect in the Later Roman Empire and China (from late Tang to early Ming), I have provided the readers with what I hope is an adequate introduction to the principal tenets of Mani's teaching and the main facts about his life. The successful decipherment of the Cologne Mani Codex which contains accounts of the formative years of Mani's life has brought about revolutionary changes to the study of Manichaeism and most standard introductory works or articles in reference books are now seriously in need of revision. A great deal of new material on the history of the sect has also come to light through the continuing publication of Manichaean texts from Turfan and from archaeological finds in China. This work endeavours to show how this material has broadened and deepened our knowledge of the missionary history of this extraordinary gnostic world religion. This book grew out of a doctoral dissertation in Literae Humaniores for the University of Oxford which was completed in 1981.1 am greatly indebted to my three supervisors who at various stages offered me indispensable help and guidance. Prof. Peter R. L. Brown has consistently nurtured my interest in the interdisciplinary study of history. His own signal contributions to the study of Manichaeism and the age of Augustine have been a constant source of illumination. Dr Sebastian Brock introduced me to the complex world of early Syriac Christianity. His immense learning on the subject was an invaluable asset to me and his willingness to find time to deal with my problems, no matter how trivial, was exemplary. Prof. P. van der Loon undertook the arduous task of checking and improving my translations from Chinese sources and saved me from innumerable careless errors. He also kindly drew my attention to a hitherto unnoticed passage in the Taoist Canon on Manichaeism in south China which provides some interesting new information. Prof. Mary Boyce acted as my unofficial external supervisor on the Iranian aspects of the work and I am grateful to her for taking the trouble to read and comment on substantial parts of the work. I have learned much from her about the history and culture of Sassanian Iran as well as Manichaeism. Prof. Hans-Joachim Klimkeit has been a constant source of encouragement and advice. I X Preface would like to thank him in particular for his translations into English of a Manichaean historical text in Uighur. Similarly, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Dr and Dr (Mrs) G. Stroumsa for supplying me with a translation from the Arabic of a section of the Annales of Eutychius which deals with Manichaeism in Roman Egypt. To my colleague, Mr Charles Morgan, I owe a special debt for the many hours we spent wrestling with the tortuous Greek of Titus of Bostra. The staff of the Inter-Library Loans division of the University of Warwick Library have been indefatigable in securing loans of obscure oriental texts from both British and foreign libraries. Without their help the work would certainly have much longer to accomplish. Mrs Janet Bailey, our Joint School Secretary, kindly undertook to type a substantial part of the final draft of my polyglottal manuscript, and I am greatly indebted to her skill and patience. The original research for this work was greatly facilitated by my election to a Junior Research Fellowship at Wolfson College, Oxford, which provided me with a stimulating academic environment for two years (1974-76). Two of the College's Senior Fellows, Sir Ronald Syme and the late Sir John Addis, both took considerable interest in my work and imparted freely of their considerable learning and mature judgement. It is indeed sad that the work was not completed before Sir John's sudden death in 1983. Many fellow Manichaean scholars have kept my knowledge of the subject up to date by generously sending me their publications. I am particularly grateful to regular communications from Professors Asmussen, Boyce, Henrichs, Klimkeit, Koenen and Ries, and from Drs Coyle, Sundermann, Stroumsa and Zieme. Mr Lin Wu-shu not only sent me his own works on Manichaeism but those of other Chinese scholars and has kindly translated two of my earlier articles on the subject into Chinese for publication in the People's Republic of China. My wife Judith has shared with me many of the joys and excitements of my research. Despite pressures of motherhood and her own academic work, she has found time to be my most valuable help and critic. Her loving care has sustained me throughout the writing of the book and has made the experience of it immensely enjoyable. My parents too gave me much encouragement and support, and to my late father especially I owe my love of the study of history. The publication of this book was made possible by a generous grant from the British Academy. I would also like to thank the Research and Innovation Fund of Warwick University for a further subvention towards the cost of publication and the Spalding Trust for a grant towards the cost of preparing the final manuscript. The Nuffield Foundation deserves to be mentioned although it has not directly funded the research for this book. It has generously supported my research into two related areas: Romano-Persian relations and the comparative study of Byzantine and Chinese (Buddhist) hagiography. Both these projects yielded much useful background information for this book and I would like to thank the many scholars who have assisted me with them, especially Mrs Marna Morgan, Mrs Doris Dance and my wife Dr Judith Lieu. Much of the first edition of the book was written during our three happy years of residence at Queen's Preface xi College, Birmingham, and we both owe much to the friendship of its staff and students as well as its excellent library facilities. xii Preface (Ann Arbor, Michigan and Köln) greatly eased the task of type-setting the citations from the Codex in the footnotes. I am also grateful to his colleague at Köln, Dr Cornelia Römer, for enabling me and my wife to examine parts of the Codex. Finally I would like to thank the editor(s) of the Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies for permission to reproduce a long citation from Prof. D. N. MacKenzie's translation of Mani's Säbuhragän in the second chapter of this book and Penguin Books (London) for permission (by arrangement) to reproduce Map 4, "The Silk Road from China to the Roman Orient", from W. Willetts Chinese Art, I (London, 1958) as Map 2 in this book. Information concerning a new discovery of Manichaean texts at Kellis in Egypt by archaeologists working under the leadership of Dr Jeffrey Jenkins of Melbourne University, Australia, reached me when the manuscript of this second edition was already in the final stages of completion. As it will be several years before the texts are fully accessible to scholars, I have decided to proceed with the publication of this second edition in the hope that it will be of use to scholars working on the newly discovered texts.

RELIGION AND THEOLOGY (BRILL ACADEMIC PUBLISHERS), 2022

The article provides a survey of the development of Manichaean studies over the past 450 years. Since the last few decades in particular, one may speak of "Manichaeology" as a new and rapidly developing new discipline of the human sciences. This survey and critical assessment aims to introduce into the discipline, at the same time stressing the recurrent discussion about the importance of Iranian and/or (Jewish-)Christian elements as the core of Mani's message that became a unique Gnostic world religion.

Armin Lange, et al., eds., Light Against Darkness: Dualism in Ancient Mediterranean Religion and the Contemporary World (Goettingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2011), 249-265, 2011