Manichaean Church at Kellis
Subtitle: Social Networks and Religious Identity in Late Antique Egypt
Publisher: BRILL
Published: 2021
Language: eng
Number of pages: 348
ISBN-13: 9789004459762
Subjects: Theology, doctrinal
Description: "This volume offers a comprehensive account of a Manichaean community in fourth-century Roman Egypt. The study analyses papyrological material from Kellis, a village in Egypt's Dakhleh Oasis, and their implications for Manichaeism as a socio-religious movement. Drawing on social network theory and engaging with current trends in the study of lived ancient religion, Teigen explores how lay families at Kellis cohered as a religious community. Whereas recent scholarship has seen the laity here as largely detached from distinctively Manichaean traditions, he argues that the papyri in fac reveal a community immersed in Manichaean ideas and practices. The book thereby shows how new religious identities were deeply entangled in everyday social life in late antiquity"--