Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley

Polemics and Exorcism in Mandaean Baptism

to start In Violent Origins, Burton Mack’s “Introduction” contains a segment outlining the contributions of Jonathan Z. Smith to the study of religions. A typical “Smithian” procedure, says Mack, is to take a text as a specific exegetical challenge, consider the commonly accepted interpretations of it, argue for an alternative reading, and, finally, state the implications of such a new reading for theory and method in the study of religions.1 Applying this schema to exercises by scholars who have an interest in comparative studies, one may discover some disconcerting gaps. In my field, Mandaean religion, I find that the two studies of Mandaean baptism (masbuta)—by Eric Segelberg and Kurt Rudolph—sorely lack attention to the contents of the prayers in the Mandaean baptismal liturgy.2 Surely, the baptism liturgy text itself does constitute an exegetical challenge, because it consists of thirty prayers (some very long), plus several additional, more or less “generic” Mandaean prayers inserted here and there during the ritual.