Tsur 2017. Nissan -Review of Goff et al., Giants from Qumran and Turfan (original) (raw)
In June 2014, a conference was held near Munich, concerning the giants of Enochic tradition and in particular, the Qumran Book of Giants, including how such originally Jewish and then Christian tales were reformulated in Manichaean texts from as far as the Far East. The volume under review is the proceedings book. The first two editors are experts in Second Temple Judaism indeed, whereas Morano (who joined as third editor the two chairs of the conference) is the President of the International Association of Manichaean Studies. Manichaeism was a late antique religion attested from Rome to China, but originating with Mani in Mesopotamia. "The "Tales of Giants" conference sought to assemble scholars who wanted to investigate in particular the fragmentary Aramaic composition from Qumran known as the Book of Giants. [… M]ost of the textual fragments associated with this composition were published in 2000 and 2001" (p. 2). "[A]n important site of Manichaean documents, written in a variety of Central Asian languages such as Sogdian, Uyghur (Old Turkic), and Middle Persian, was discovered around 1900 in Turfan, in western China, in what is now Xinjiang Province. Among this horde of texts are fragmentary remains of what appears to be the Manichaean Book of Giants" (p. 3), fragments published by Walter Henning. 1 Goff points out and enumerates questions for research (pp.
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The Turkic speaking Uygurs-with their Khaganate in modern day Mongolia which flourished from 744 until 840 CE when it was destroyed by the Kyrgyz-embraced Manichaeism as a court religion in the early 760s CE. 2 Even after the Uygurs migrated to the Eastern Tianshan region and the Gansu corridor where they founded the West Uygur Kingdom and the Uygur principality of Gansu respectively, they continued to adhere to Manichaean beliefs and ethics. It was only under Uygur suzerainty that Manichaeism received official support and patronage. Next to the environmental conditions so favorable for preserving manuscripts and artifacts this is why specimens of Manichaean literature and art have survived in large quantity in this part of Central Asia, although more often than not in a fragmentary state. The Uygurs translated Manichaean texts from Middle Iranian languages into their own vernacular, but it is almost certain that their electi and electae copied, read and recited works in Middle Iranian as well. This might well be the reason why some important texts are unknown in Old Uygur. The Book of Giants tradition and the Manichaean myth One of the most important doctrinal works of Central and East Asian Manichaeism, the Sermon on the Light Nous also known as the "Traité Pelliot" in its Chinese version, is not only attested in Parthian (the 1 A draft version of this paper was read at the meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature in Berlin (August 7-11, 2017). I would like to thank Zsuzsanna Gulácsi for her comments and suggestions. 2 On the conversion of Bügü Khan and the dating of this event, see Clark 2000. 3 Cf. also Wilkens 2011. 4 Kósa 2014, pp. 71 ff. 5 This can be inferred from several textual accounts as well as from an artistic depiction in a Chinese Manichaean silk painting, which was identified in parts by Yutaka Yoshida in 2008 (lower part) and Gulácsi in 2015 (upper part). For a detailed discussion, see
Jewish Lore in Manichaean Cosmogony: the Book of the Giants
review of John C. Reeves, Jewish Lore in Manichaean Cosmogony: Studies in the ‘Book of Giants’ Traditions, Cincinnati, Hebrew Union College Press 1992, in: Vigiliae Christianae. A Review of Early Christian Life and Language 48(1994)92-94;
Lawrence H. Schiffman & James C. VanderKam, eds., Encyclopaedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls (2 vols.; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), 1:309-311, 2000
Observations on the Book of the Giants from Coptic and Syriac Sources
A close reading of passages in early Syriac literature renders it probable that Enochic texts once existed in Syriac translations. This observation is of possible relevance for the question of how Mani got access to the Book of the Giants traditions. On the other hand it seems possible to shed more light on Mani’s Book of the Giants through observations from the Coptic Kephalaia – not least from the chapters edited by Wolf-Peter Funk 18 years ago.
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