Abstract:
Did the Western Manichaeans call themselves ‘Manichaean’ and ‘Christian’? A survey of
the evidence, primarily Latin and Coptic, seems to show that the noun and adjective uses of
‘Manichaean’ were very rarely used and only in communication with non-Manichaeans. The
use of ‘Christian’ is central in the Latin texts, which, however, is not written for internal use,
but with a view to outsiders. The Coptic texts, on the other hand, are written for an internal
audience; the word ‘Christian’ is only found twice and in fragmentary contexts, but it is
suggested that some texts advocate a Christian self-understanding (Mani’s Epistles, the Psalm-
Book) whilst others (the Kephalaia) are striving to establish an independent identity. Hence, the
Christian self-understanding may reflect both the earliest Manichaeism and its later Western
form whilst the attempt to be independent may be a secondary development.
Description:
Contribution to ‘Augustine
and Manichaean
Christianity’, the First
South African Symposium
on Augustine of Hippo,
University of Pretoria,
24−26 April 2012. Dr Nils
Pedersen is participating as
research fellow of Prof. Dr
Hans van Oort, Professor
Extraordinarius in the
Department of Church
History and Polity of the
Faculty of Theology at
the University of Pretoria,
Pretoria, South Africa.
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