Manichaean Christology through the lens of late antique heresiology: Between stereotypes and reality

Menéndez Sánchez, Guillermo 2024. Manichaean Christology through the lens of late antique heresiology: Between stereotypes and reality. Journal for Late Antique Religion and Culture 18 (2) , pp. 53-73. 10.18573/jlarc.144

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Abstract

The present article proposes an analysis of the confrontation between Manichaeism and Late Antique heresiology regarding the figure of Jesus. Manichean Christology is a particularly complex subject. However, most heresiologists have stereotyped Manichean beliefs, and assimilated them to Monophysitism, and especially the most extreme ramifications, which were Docetic or questioned the authenticity of the incarnation of God. Therefore, the accusation of Manichaeism plays a fundamental role in the Christological controversies of Late Antiquity. Contemporary to the development of these stereotypes, there is a small group of sources, from the end of the fifth and the beginning of the sixth centuries, that move away from these stereotypes and report various Christological doctrines closer to Manichean sources. These texts seem to indicate that, during this period, Christian writers had access to information unknown to their predecessors, which coincided with the last persecution of Manichaeism in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Subjects:	D History General and Old World > D History (General)
Publisher:	Cardiff University Press
ISSN:	1754-517X
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	13 January 2025
Date of Acceptance:	25 October 2024
Last Modified:	22 Jan 2025 15:29
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/175250

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