The Manichaean Body: In Discipline and Ritual

by Jason David BeDuhn

Reconstructing Manichaeism from scraps of ancient texts and the ungenerous polemic of its enemies (such as the ex-Manichaean Augustine of Hippo), BeDuhn reveals for the first time the religion as it was actually practiced. He describes the Manichaeans' daily ritual meal, their stringent disciplinary codes (intended to prevent humans from harming plants and animals), and their secretive religious procedures designed to transform the cosmos and bring about the salvation of all living beings. Overturning long-held assumptions about Manichaean dualism, asceticism, spirituality, and the pursuit of salvation, The Manichaean Body changes completely how we look at this ancient religion and the environment in which Christianity arose. BeDuhn's conclusions revolutionize our understanding of the Manichaeans, clearly distinguishing them from Gnostics and other early Christian heretics and revealing them to be practitioners of a unique world religion.

Genres: Gnosticism, Religion

376 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Deep · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Manichaean Body is a work that strives to take the Manichaean worldview seriously by reconsidering previous scholarship on Manichaean anthropology and ritual in light of the practitioners own words. Throwing away preconceived notions of world-denying gnosticism, Jason BeDuhn reveals a religion deeply involved in Roman-Hellenic physiology and medical science. A distinctive and possibly unique materialist soteriology (it raises some questions on the origin of St Augustine's doctrine of inherited original sin). A religion devoted to transforming the human body into an organon for the liberation of a godhead trapped in the world as particles of light. A theology focused not on the individual's own escape from matter through gnosis, but universal salvation through the ascetic production of a specific bodily subject.

BeDuhn questions the role hermeneutical scholarship, in its well-meaning attempts to 'make sense' of ritual, has underplayed emic interpretation and self-description in favour of etic analysis of communication, metaphor, or social organization. The analysis of a ritual as a communicative act cannot sufficiently answer "why this act and not another?" without placing it in a theological context where the act serves a soteriological or practical end. Scholarship has interred Manichaeism in pre-existing categories of gnosticism or syncretism reflective of our own concerns, rather than understand how the Manichaeans utilized such syncretic practices for a distinctive theological end.

[Rakeela Windrider · Rating 5 out of 5]

In addition to being a fantastic view into a departed tradition which worked hard for universal empathy in its day, this book is a fantastic view into a world of the traditions of historical study and social scientific discourse on how to understand history. It covers the uses and errors of the hermeneutics of charity as applied to Manichaeism and draws broader parallels with the potential errors of interpretation that arise from a rational hermeneutics of charity.

Listen to me go on! I am parroting some of the back of the book. This book is such a dense read that it is challenging to recall past the most recently read section. I stuck flags in my copy so that I could go back to specific sections and read them again. Furthermore, my copy has been heavily underlined by someone else who studied it before me. I love the underlines in it and I am lucky to be the second owner of a fantastic text.

My ability to speak of this book is limited by my ability to understand this book, yet it makes me want to read more books which discuss history in the way that it discusses it. It is an empathetic view into the world that sees empathy in those with whom it disagrees. This book is a shining work of peace!

[Char · Rating 2 out of 5]

While the author brings some confusing or contradictory material to the table, the references in the back of this book are invaluable to any student of history. Studying this volume with an open mind, the student should be able to able to gain a better understanding of the religious offerings of the ancient Manichaeans according to what is known among scholars today.

I recommend reading the Gospel of the Prophet Mani, compiled and translated by Duncan Greenlees before attempting to read BeDuhn's work or any other Manichaean related publication and research.

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

"I liked it", but it is a long non-introductory book designed to convince the skeptical reader that Manichaeans had rituals.

[Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

زروانیسم، مانی که ایسم و کاتارسیسم بخش اول
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