John C. Reeves

Heralds of that good realm : Syro-Mesopotamian gnosis and Jewish traditions

This volume examines the transmission of biblical pseudepigraphic literature and motifs from their largely Jewish cultural contexts in Palestine to developing gnostic milieux of Syria and Mesopotamia, particularly that one lying behind the birth and growth of Manichaeism. It surveys biblical pseudepigraphic literary activity in the late antique Near East, devoting special attention to revelatory works attributed to the five biblical forefathers who are cited in the Cologne Mani Codex: Adam, Seth, Enosh, Shem, and Enoch. The author provides a philological, literary, and religio-historical analysis of each of the five pseudepigraphic citations contained in the Codex, and offers hypotheses regarding the original provenance of each citation and the means by which these traditions have been adapted to their present context. This study is an important contribution to the scholarly reassessment of the roles played by Second Temple Judaism, Jewish Christian sectarianism, and classical gnosis in the formulation and development of Syro-Mesopotamian religious currents.

Manichaica aramaica? Adam and the magical deliverance of Seth

Ibn al-Nadīms tenth-century Fihrist, long recognized as the purveyor of much valuable Manichaean lore, includes a Manichaean exposition of Genesis 2-4 that exhibits numerous affinities with both Jewish aggadic and gnostic exegetical traditions. One of the more intriguing episodes featured in the exposition involves the deliverance of the infant Seth from demonic assault by a magically adept Adam. Some parallels to this specific narrative episode were subsequently discovered within the gradually expanding corpus of Middle Iranian Manichaean literature. The present essay seeks to direct attention to a heretofore unrecognized reflex of this theme within an Aramaic incantation stemming from lower Mesopotamia. The implications of this correspondence are explored.

Further Textual Evidence Pertaining to the Enigmatic ‛Mani-Citations’ of Servus of Antioch

Abstract The 123rd Cathedral Homily of the early sixth-century Monophysite patriarch Severus of Antioch features a series of textual citations drawn from a Manichaean work. Modern scholars have noted certain affinities these citations share with materials contained in prior Christian polemicists such as Titus of Bostra and Theodoret, and they have offered largely speculative suggestions about the possible identity of the written source. The present paper seeks to advance the critical discussion surrounding this source by calling attention to the existence of what appear to be ‘later’ versions of this same source in some Arabic language testimonia about Mani and Manichaeism.

Manichaeans as Ahl al-Kitāb A Study in Manichaean Scripturalism

‘ ... this revelation of mine of (the) Two Principles and of (the) living books and wisdom and knowledge is greater than (that of) the religions of the ancients.’ This triumphalist proclamation belongs to Mani, a third-century self-styled ‘apostle of the God of truth to Babylonia’ and the founder of what can arguably be termed the first ‘world religion.’ In this Middle Persian citation we discern a coupling of the two features of his religion that Mani’s opponents most frequently condemn and remark: its stridently dualistic interpretation of existence, and its obsession with books which it accords the status of