The Mandaeans

"The Mandaeans are a Gnostic sect that arose in the Middle East around the same time as Christianity. Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley here offers a full-scale study of this group.". ; "Although it is one of the few religious traditions that can legitimately claim a continuous 2000-year literary history, there has been very little written about the Mandaeans in English. Much of what has been written focuses on the ancient Mandaeans or on their relation to early Christianity. There are, however, surviving groups of Mandaeans concentrated mainly in Iran and Iraq but also in diasporic communities throughout the world, including places like New York and San Diego. Buckley seeks to cross the boundaries between the traditional history-of-religions study of Mandaean religion (which ignores the existence of living Mandaeans) and the beliefs and practices of Mandaeans today. She begins with a comprehensive introduction to the religion, examining some of the central texts, mythological figures, and rituals. Then she offers a window into the surviving Mandaean communities and shows how their ancient texts inform their living tradition, and vice versa."--BOOK JACKET.